President Javier Milei’s radical austerity measures, including a 71% cut to public university budgets, have sparked massive protests across Argentina. Students, professors, trade unions, and opposition parties rallied in Buenos Aires and other cities, demanding a reversal of the cuts.
One of the largest demonstrations took place in the capital, with aerial footage showing a sea of people occupying the center of Buenos Aires for hours. Similar scenes were witnessed in several other cities, with organizers calling for a pushback against budget cuts that they say have put universities on the verge of closure. The University of Buenos Aires claimed that more than 500,000 people took part in the protest in the capital alone.
President Milei, who ran on a promise of taking a chainsaw to public spending, has defended his approach, citing Argentina’s economic challenges. He has cut ministries, defunded cultural centers, laid off state workers, and reduced subsidies. On Monday, he celebrated the country’s first quarterly fiscal surplus since 2008 as evidence of his approach’s success.
However, critics argue that the cuts are shortsighted and will have devastating consequences for Argentina’s education system, which is considered one of the best in Latin America. Public universities are free of charge, with some 2.2 million people studying at state-run institutions, including many from other countries in the region.
Ricardo Gelpi, rector at the University of Buenos Aires, warned that universities may be forced to shut down and strand hundreds of thousands of students mid-degree. Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Porez Esquivel, who spoke at the rally in front of the government seat, declared that they were defending the right to free and quality university education, which is a birthright for Argentinians.
