Argentine students protest on campus over Milei’s austerity

Judge fines government for failing to fund universities as protests over Milei’s cuts turn violent.

A banner at a university in Buenos Aires reads "In a democracy, the law is upheld" [Lagmi Chavez/Al Jazeera]

Reporting from Buenos Aires

“This cannot go on!” students shout during an assembly in the middle of the central hall of the University of Buenos Aires Exact and Natural Sciences building.

It is part of Argentina’s prestigious public university system.

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The faculty’s central hall is covered with dozens of banners protesting President Javier Milei’s spending cuts. Students have called an assembly to announce the occupation of the university, a traditional form of protest in Argentina meant to raise public awareness and pressure the government.

They say they will take over the building for a day. Many students and professors here are concerned about the impact of Milei’s austerity policies on public universities and say the future of free higher education is at risk.

Students gather in protest at a university in Buenos Aires [Lagmi Chavez/Al Jazeera]

“Our best professors are leaving en masse. With salaries that cannot cover their basic needs, they are leaving for private universities,” Emiliano Gato, a physics student who is part of the group, told Al Jazeera.

“I dream of doing research and teaching at the public University of Buenos Aires. It’s a prestigious school. But now, with this austerity plan, I don’t know what will happen.”

Public universities in Argentina have become a major battleground of Milei’s austerity plan. Students and professors are protesting the lack of funding and the erosion of salaries, which they say is a major threat to the country’s public education.

Milei is implementing one of the harshest austerity plans in Argentina’s history.

Since taking office in 2023, he has laid off thousands of state employees, shut down ministries, reduced subsidies and cut government-funded programmes. The measures were meant to fight high inflation, which was a major problem in Argentina. Almost three years later, inflation has fallen to around 2 percent a month. Milei says his plan is going well.

“Argentina is growing at a remarkable pace. We have now recorded 27 consecutive months of sustained growth, and today the country is expanding at four times its historical rate. This growth is being felt across almost every sector of the economy,” said Milei during a recent visit to Washington.

But not everyone agrees. His plan is also having a profound impact on public education, welfare plans for people with disabilities, pensioners and others who depend on state support. The opposition has tried to block many of Milei’s reforms.

Last year, Congress overturned presidential vetoes and approved two laws, one increasing funding for public universities and another declaring a disability emergency. But Milei’s government has refused to implement them, arguing that Congress failed to identify how they would be financed.

A federal judge has now begun fining the government 100,000 pesos (around $70) a day for failing to implement parts of the financing law, which requires Milei’s government to restore university salaries and student scholarships lost to inflation, regularly update budgets and provide funding for research, hospitals and infrastructure.

And that’s why thousands of people took to the streets on Thursday to demand that the government implement it. All around Buenos Aires, long columns of people blocked the centre of the city as they called for a general strike. Although the protest was meant to be peaceful, it soon turned violent. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters threw rocks.

The plaza in front of Congress resembled a battleground. At least 25 people were detained, and several others were injured, including members of the security forces.

Maria Teresa de Jesus is a professor in the University of Buenos Aires chemistry department. She says she makes around $700 a month and it has become difficult to make ends meet. “I have come to this protest as a last resort. I am professor. I love teaching, doing research. I shouldn’t be here,” she told Al Jazeera. “Public education is crucial in this country, to make education accessible to all. And the government is ignoring it.”

Many in Argentina continue to support Milei’s economic plan. They are hoping the government’s plan to exploit the country’s vast natural resources will pay off and translate into more jobs, higher wages and improved living standards.

But many others have stopped believing and are prepared to raise the stakes. They accuse Milei’s government of protecting the interests of a privileged few while asking the rest of the country to bear the cost of his economic plan.

法官因政府未能资助大学而对其处以罚款，此前针对米莱削减开支的抗议活动演变为暴力事件。

布宜诺斯艾利斯一所大学的横幅上写着：“在民主社会，法律得到维护”[拉格米·查韦斯/半岛电视台]

布宜诺斯艾利斯报道

“这不能再这样下去了！”学生们在布宜诺斯艾利斯大学精密与自然科学大楼中央大厅的集会上高喊。

它是阿根廷享有盛誉的公立大学系统的一部分。

列表 1/3：米莱称联合国对福克兰群岛争端“视而不见”

阿根廷贫困率在米莱执政期间上升至32%，预计未来形势将更加严峻（列表2/3）。

阿根廷米莱威胁就福克兰群岛石油项目采取法律行动（共3条，此为第3条）

学院中央大厅挂满了数十条横幅，抗议总统哈维尔·米莱削减开支的政策。学生们已召开集会，宣布占领大学校园。占领校园是阿根廷传统的抗议形式，旨在提高公众意识并向政府施压。

他们说他们将占领这栋楼一天。这里许多学生和教授都担心米莱的紧缩政策会对公立大学造成影响，并表示免费高等教育的未来岌岌可危。

布宜诺斯艾利斯一所大学的学生聚集抗议 [Lagmi Chavez/半岛电视台]

“我们最好的教授们正在集体离职。由于薪水无法满足他们的基本需求，他们纷纷前往私立大学，”身为该群体成员之一的物理系学生埃米利亚诺·加托告诉半岛电视台。

“我梦想着能在布宜诺斯艾利斯公立大学从事研究和教学工作。那是一所享有盛誉的大学。但现在，随着这项紧缩计划的实施，我不知道未来会怎样。”

阿根廷的公立大学已成为米莱伊紧缩计划的主要战场。学生和教授们抗议资金短缺和薪资缩水，他们认为这对该国的公共教育构成了重大威胁。

米莱正在实施阿根廷历史上最严厉的紧缩计划之一。

自2023年上任以来，他已裁减了数千名公务员，关闭了多个部委，削减了补贴并终止了政府资助的项目。这些措施旨在应对阿根廷面临的主要问题——高通胀。近三年后，通胀率已降至每月2%左右。米莱表示，他的计划进展顺利。

“阿根廷正以惊人的速度增长。我们已经连续27个月保持持续增长，如今该国的增长速度是历史平均水平的四倍。这种增长几乎遍及经济的各个领域，”米莱在最近访问华盛顿时表示。

但并非所有人都赞同。他的计划也对公共教育、残疾人福利计划、退休人员福利以及其他依赖国家救济的人群产生了深远的影响。反对派试图阻止米莱的多项改革。

去年，国会推翻了总统的否决，通过了两项法案，一项增加公立大学的拨款，另一项宣布残疾人事务进入紧急状态。但米莱政府拒绝执行这两项法案，理由是国会未能明确拨款来源。

一名联邦法官现在开始对政府处以每天 10 万比索（约 70 美元）的罚款，原因是政府未能执行融资法的部分条款。该法要求米莱政府恢复因通货膨胀而损失的大学工资和学生奖学金，定期更新预算，并为研究、医院和基础设施提供资金。

因此，周四成千上万的人走上街头，要求政府落实这项政策。在布宜诺斯艾利斯各地，长长的队伍封锁了市中心，呼吁举行总罢工。尽管抗议活动原本旨在和平进行，但很快演变成暴力冲突。抗议者投掷石块，警方则发射催泪瓦斯和橡皮子弹。

国会大厦前的广场宛如战场。至少25人被拘留，另有多人受伤，其中包括安全部队成员。

玛丽亚·特蕾莎·德·赫苏斯是布宜诺斯艾利斯大学化学系的教授。她说自己每月收入约700美元，如今已难以维持生计。“我来参加这次抗议是迫不得已。我是一名教授，我热爱教学和科研。我不应该出现在这里，”她告诉半岛电视台。“在这个国家，公共教育至关重要，它应该让所有人都能接受教育。而政府却对此视而不见。”

许多阿根廷人仍然支持米莱的经济计划。他们希望政府开发该国丰富自然资源的计划能够取得成功，带来更多就业机会、更高工资和更佳的生活水平。

但许多人已经不再相信米莱的政策，并准备加大力度。他们指责米莱政府维护少数特权阶层的利益，却要求全国其他民众承担其经济计划的成本。