Ecuador seeks to end investment protection treaty with U.S.

Ecuador's socialist president Rafael Correa presented a bill on Monday asking lawmakers to annul an investment protection treaty with the United States, which would prevent U.S. companies from filing for arbitration against the Andean country.

Correa, who won a sweeping re-election victory in mid-February, said over the weekend that the OPEC-member country could go bankrupt because arbitration tribunals always rule that Ecuador should pay damages to foreign investors when there is a dispute.

"These (investment) treaties favor foreign investors over human beings. Anyone can take us to an arbitration tribunal without first going to a national court," he said on Saturday.

Since first taking office in 2007, Correa has alienated investors by defaulting on $3.2 billion of debt, rewriting contracts with oil companies to squeeze more revenue from them, pushing through a new constitution that gave him more power and making frequent outbursts against capitalism.

http://news.yahoo.com/ecuador-seeks-end-investment-protection-treaty-u-023331674--sector.html