BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s public universities will hold a massive demonstration on Wednesday, backed by unions and opposition parties, to protest sharp public spending cuts implemented by President Javier Milei.
The call for protests came after Milei’s administration threatened to veto a law passed weeks ago by Congress to guarantee university funding, as Argentina faces an economic crisis with annual inflation close to 240% and over half of its population in poverty.
“The government has a systematic, methodical and gradual plan to destroy public education,” Ricardo Gelpi, rector of the University of Buenos Aires, said in a statement. The university is the country’s largest and ranked among the 100 best in the world, according to QS ranking.
Milei’s libertarian government has repeatedly justified budget cuts by claiming that public universities are sites of “socialist” indoctrination, but the good reputation of higher education institutions among Argentines has resulted in widespread social resistance.
“This government is going to veto a financing law that would represent a very small percentage of the country’s GDP,” Gelpi said, adding that Milei’s administration does not care about education, science, or the universities’ social aspect.
In April, a protest that drew hundreds of thousands of students and teachers forced Milei to reconsider a cut in the universities’ budget, although authorities from prestigious universities – which are mostly free in Argentina – said afterwards that the government did not comply with the promised improvements.
Milei claims his economic plan works toward a fiscal balance in Argentina’s battered economy, but his opponents say that his adjustments have not been careful or equitable and have harmed more vulnerable people and the most sensitive sectors such as health and education.
“Public university education was never defunded. The government’s commitment to public universities has remained firm,” Argentina’s Ministry of Human Capital said in a statement, claiming it just demanded more clarity in the management of resources.
According to the University of Buenos Aires, which counts five Nobel laureates among its graduates, university teachers and non-teaching staff have lost around 40% of their purchasing power since December, “a figure that continues to deteriorate even further” to remain below the poverty line.