In the biggest demonstration against the Milei government, Argentine students protest against cuts to universities | World

Hundreds of thousands of Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires this Tuesday (23) to protest against cuts in the budget of public universities promoted by Javier Milei. This was the largest demonstration recorded so far in the Milei government, which took office in December.

Students and union representatives participated in the march, which had an audience of at least 500,000 people, according to the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). The Argentine government reported that at least 150,000 protesters participated in the act, which ended without incident.

The protest left Congress towards Plaza de Mayo at 3:30 pm (local time, even in Brasília). A little earlier, there were already gatherings in front of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a few blocks away. Protesters arrived near the Casa Rosada, the president’s official residence, at around 5 pm. At 6pm, a shared document was read.

The march’s motto was “in defense of the Argentine public university”. During the event, banners were erected with the words “defend public universities”, “studying is a right” and “increase the budget, down with Milei’s plan”.

Sergio Massa, former Chief of Staff and former Minister of Economy, and Axel Kicillof, governor of the province of Buenos Aires, participated in the protest.

In defense of the demonstration, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, winner of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize, said that “education is to create free men and women.”

“I’m here to defend public universities,” said Pedro Palm, an 82-year-old architect trained at the prestigious University of Buenos Aires (UBA), who recently warned that he might have to close his doors after his budget was slashed.

This Tuesday’s protest is yet another example of the growing tension between the Executive and various areas of Argentine society due to the spending cuts promoted by Milei in order to reverse the country’s economic situation.

However, the cuts have squeezed the public sector. Argentina’s public universities, such as UBA, which offer free undergraduate education, depend on government funding to operate.

Hours before the demonstration, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni defended the government’s position in the face of the cuts and called for a peaceful march.

“Education is one of the fundamental pillars of our ideology. We have no desire to close universities,” Adorni said at a press conference.