The arrival of the international delegation to the different territories affected by the demands of transnational corporations made it possible to make visible and demonstrate the negative impacts of free trade agreements and investment agreements. Within the framework of the visit, various meetings were held with representatives of civil society to share tools and positive experiences in denouncing or reviewing investment agreements. At the same time, meetings were held with governmental authorities to discuss agreements and actions that should be taken. Lucía Bárcena, TNI researcher, stated that "during the visit to La Guajira we were able to verify that Glencore Mining is not only not complying with the Constitutional Court's ruling by continuing to expand its extractive activity, but is also using investment arbitration to pressure the Colombian government. The investment arbitration is protecting the fossil fuel industry, instead of holding them accountable for the environmental damage they have caused".
On May 31, a meeting was held in the Second Commission of the Colombian Senate. On this occasion, international experts and local organizations of affected communities had the opportunity to express their demands.
Luis Jesús Gamboa, representative of the Committee for the Defense of Water and the Santurbán Páramo, said that reviewing the investment agreements is a matter of utmost importance for "the fate of the Santurbán páramo, for Colombia's páramos, and for water, which is life". "The multinational companies that have come to the country as a result of free trade agreements and investment treaties have settled in the Santurbán páramo and have provoked demands such as the one we have today from EcoOro. This multinational has left, but within the framework of the treaty it has demanded 700 million dollars from the state, because the communities settled in the territory did not allow this mining extraction project to go ahead, with consequences for the national treasury". Gamboa stated the need to review the free trade and investment treaties and requested the support of the Commission to "join forces to defend the Colombian State against this perverse mechanism that affects health and education finances".
Cindy Forero, lawyer of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (CAJAR) raised her concern about the non-compliance with the sentence suspending the Cerrejón project, due to the violation of the rights to health, food sovereignty and life of the communities affected by this project. The lawyer argued that the Swiss company Glencore took advantage of the Constitutional Court ruling that ordered the halt of the exploitation in the Tajo la Puente, an area that directly affects the Bruno stream in the heart of the Wayúu communities of La Guajira, to sue Colombia for an amount that is still unknown. Forero explained that these actions put at risk the judicial independence and sovereignty of the Colombian State. She added that "it is not possible that a multinational company disregards fundamental rights and the sovereignty and autonomy of the high courts and pretends to sue the Colombian State for making decisions regarding the protection of human rights". The lawyer stated that the company is contaminating and displacing indigenous communities: "The Wayúu community demands that the Wayúu normative system be respected", she assured. In summary, for the lawyer and human rights defender "the Colombian State is renouncing to defend fundamental human rights because the companies have the power to sue and leave us without resources".
TNI researcher Luciana Ghiotto explained that the ISDS system will be a problem for any government that wants to fight for the defense of human, environmental and labor rights. Although it is a complex situation, for the researcher there are many actions and responses that can be implemented by governments and, along these lines, she mentioned some of the capacities that the Colombian Senate has in relation to this issue. Ghiotto said that during the meetings held within the framework of the international delegation, the government's intention to review the FTAs and BITs was mentioned, but she called attention to the risk of taking a superficial look at the modifications required by these agreements. The researcher stated that senators have the capacity to intervene in the negotiation, renegotiation and approval of new treaties and in this sense she called on the Colombian Senate "not to approve new free trade or investment treaties and to support and promote bills for Colombia's withdrawal from ICSID". To conclude, she proposed that Colombia "protect itself in the future so as not to fall into these types of treaties again, that is why we propose no more investment treaties, not to approve the treaty with the United Arab Emirates" and she asked the Senate to promote Colombia's exit from the Energy Charter Treaty. "We fervently believe that this House has the power and the responsibility to ask for the revision of these treaties and to ask for a comprehensive audit of these treaties," said Ghiotto at the end of her speech. Assuming this responsibility, for the researcher, will allow informing the Colombian people "what have been the integral impacts of these treaties, both in economic sectors such as agriculture, the sector of small and medium enterprises, but also the impacts on access to health, medicines, drinking water, access to education, and of course also the environmental impacts and on women," she said.