The Próspera Group has every intention of proceeding confidently with plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars and to create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in Honduras in reliance upon its acquired rights under the ZEDE framework. For the State of Honduras to deny these rights would plainly violate its obligations under international and domestic law based on well-established legal principles. See Alejandro Escobar, The Reasonable Choice: Respecting the Powerful Investor Protections of Honduran Employment and Economic Development Zones (ZEDEs), Int’l Policy Analysis (April 18, 2022), available here.

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The Honduran government has a very strong incentive to respect the legal stability of the ZEDE framework. The ZEDE framework was specifically crafted and tailored to ensure legal certainty, which is crucial to the nation’s socio-economic development, and the ZEDE framework provides for multiple layers of legal stability guarantees at all levels of the law, among which are the following:

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• Constitutional Provisions and Acquired Rights. The repeal of the ZEDE legal framework does not affect the constitutionally-protected acquired rights of ZEDE investors, which are premised on the legal personhood as well as the legal, economic, administrative, and political autonomy of ZEDEs.
• Legal Stability Agreements. The Próspera Group is protected by a Fifty (50) year legal stability agreement. ZEDE Technical Secretaries are authorized to sign such legal stability agreements with investors. In case of repeal or amendment of the ZEDE framework, Article 45 of the ZEDE Organic Law nevertheless states that the rights and privileges of ZEDE investors will stay in place for the duration of their stability agreements.
• International Investment Law Protection. Honduras Próspera, Inc., the Promoter & Organizer of Prospera ZEDE, is a U.S. company with rights under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and the U.S.-HN Bilateral Investment Treaty, which extend to investments made in Próspera ZEDE the highest degree of legal protection in Honduras. Many other investors from other countries likewise enjoy powerful treaty rights.
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The State of Honduras is bound by international, constitutional, and ordinary law to provide fair and equitable treatment, as well as full protection and security to investors and investments in the ZEDE framework. The ZEDE framework was built to last and specifically tailored to serve as a rule of law oasis of economic freedom and legal stability in Honduras for decades to come.

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The entire Próspera Group will continue to support the deployment of Foreign Direct Investment, national businesses, entrepreneurs, and the creation of good-paying jobs in what we believe is the world’s most advanced and innovative special jurisdiction.