By Luis E. Cuervo and Vernon Valentine Palmer
Latin America is the continent of opportunity, but much needs to be done in a vast territory of more than 500 million people stretching from Mexico to Argentina. All Latin American countries are eager to host new foreign investors that will create employment opportunities, improve infrastructure, and help build a bridge toward development. Foreign investors may find an attractive market for their products and services.
We believe that promoting free trade in the Americas should go beyond promoting foreign commerce and eliminating trade barriers. U.S. investors may play a crucial role in defining the future of Latin American institutions and law reform programs. They may contribute to the creation a stable, democratic, and prosperous continent that will be able to compete with the European Union. The progress of Latin America is a key element of U.S. internal security. The best way to fight against terrorism is to create job opportunities in Tegucigalpa, Cali, Guatemala, and Asunción.
We believe that the Latin American legal systems can be improved, and that if they become efficient, business and investment will multiply. The ultimate goal is to transform the entire judicial system in the region, modifying the public's perception of its judiciary and bringing back trust.
There must be a starting point. We believe that such a starting point could be a Model Act that creates a Special Tribunal to protect Foreign Investment. If an efficient tribunal can be introduced into a country's judiciary, the same model may then be replicated in other areas of the judicial system. Transparency, efficiency, and independence are the key words to define such a Tribunal.
The Model Act we propose creates the Special Tribunal and Court of Appeals and introduces, under articles 2 through 9, mechanisms to staff these courts with qualified and independent magistrates. A magistrate must meet minimum age and experience requirements and possess certain other credentials designed to ensure probity and independence. The final selection of such magistrates by the President of the Republic and the Justices of the Supreme Court is taken from names presented by a democratic process to which any citizen should have access.
About the Author
Luis E. Cuervo. Adjunct Professor of International Petroleum Transactions, Tulane Law School; Partner, Fowler, Rodriguez & Chalos, New Orleans, Louisiana. L.L.M. Tulane Law School.
Vernon Valentine Palmer. Thomas Pickles Professor of Law and Director of European Legal Studies and the Paris Institute of European Legal Studies, Tulane University.
Citation
77 Tul. L. Rev. 1053 (2003)