Huge posters installed on the Plaza de Mayo and the surrounding avenues, in the center of Buenos Aires, repeated the same slogan: “Milei, I complied with the law.” Hundreds of thousands of people chanted them this Tuesday, when they marched to demand that the ultra-government of Argentina stop and send the funds approved by Congress. “The financing of the national university system is currently critical and the main cause is that the national government fails to comply with the basic democratic and constitutional rule: comply with the university financing law that establishes a resource floor that ensures the normal development of the system,” denounced academic authorities, professors and students in a joint document, read at the central event of the protest.. He called the federal university march an “opposition act” and reiterated that he will not send the requested funds.
Organized by the universities themselves, the teaching unions and the student federations, the mobilization gathered a crowd in the Argentine capital and, in addition, had replicas in numerous cities in the country, such as Córdoba, La Plata, Rosario, Mendoza, Tucumán, Mar del Plata, Salta and Neuquén, among others. According to the organizers, more than one and a half million people demonstrated nationwide.
Since noon, columns of professors, students and university workers filled the main streets of downtown Buenos Aires. The rhythm of drums and snare drums accompanied them, from different points, towards the historic Plaza de Mayo. Adolescents, young people and adults carried flags that identified their universities, unions or political groups from a wide spectrum, from the center to the left.
warned one of the many signs displayed by the protesters. “I defend the public university,” warned another. “The worst enemy of a corrupt government is an educated people.” And also: “Freedom without education is a lie.” Many posters targeted Milei’s Chief of Staff, Manuel Adorni, who was being investigated for alleged illicit enrichment: “How many teachers’ salaries were used to pay for this idiot’s vacation?” asked another poster illustrated with the senior official’s face.
From the assumption of Milei in 2023 until today, according to the National Interuniversity Council (CIN). In the same period, the salaries of professors and other workers at state universities have lost more than a third of their purchasing power—they received increases of 147% in the face of inflation of 293%. The budget prepared by the Executive for this year plans to allocate 4.8 billion pesos (about 3.4 billion dollars) to universities, compared to the 7.2 billion required by universities as “the minimum essential to sustain current operations.” The core of the conflict between the academic community and the ultra Government lies in the contrast of figures.
“The only thing we want is for the law to be followed,” says Marisa Corral, a retired teacher and today, at 68, a Literature student at the UBA, as she walks towards the square. “The president is very locked into the economy, he would have to read other things,” he suggests. “I come to defend our public university, which is not a privilege but a right of all Argentines. And this Government wants to destroy it,” says Marcelo, 24 years old, student at the University of Quilmes. Sitting on a staircase, a few meters from the Casa Rosada, Agustina says that she is neither a student nor a teacher, but that she felt called to participate in the march. “The university is our future as a society, as a people,” he says. At his side, Sabrina, a 29-year-old teacher, laments that governments “always adjust public education.”
The main demand of the academic community is that the Executive comply with the university financing law. The rule was approved last year by Congress, with broad opposition agreement, and is limited to updating the sector’s budgets to the values in force at the end of 2023. Milei vetoed it, but legislators rejected the veto. The president tried again to repeal the law in the 2026 budget, but again Parliament voted against it. In any case, Milei did not comply with the rule, arguing that it would undermine the fiscal surplus obtained by his chainsaw. The universities resorted to justice. In two instances, the courts issued a precautionary measure for the Government to begin applying the financing, but the Executive refused and appealed to the Supreme Court.
Hours before the massive protest this Tuesday, the Government announced its refusal to accept the demands and focused on accusing the universities of “politicizing the claim” and resisting audits on the use of funds. “The only law that we are going to comply with is the budget law,” remarked the Undersecretary of University Policies, Alejandro Alvarez, who defined the march as “an opposition act.” The Milei official criticized the study houses because they have, he assured, “one of the lowest graduation rates in the region” and because they do not charge a fee to foreign students.
The demonstration in Plaza de Mayo concluded with an event featuring university authorities, student leaders and teachers, on a stage set up with its back to the Government House. “We are in a tremendously critical situation,” Franco Bartolacci, president of the CIN, said there, and highlighted that the “most distressing” thing is the situation of teachers and non-teachers, for whom he demanded “a decent salary.”
Then, the students who lead the university federation (FUA) read for the convening organizations. “When the Government decides what laws it complies with and what sentences it abides by, what is broken is not only what is related to the university budget, it is the social contract that keeps us free and in a rule of law,” they pointed out. They also highlighted that “the Argentine university, public, free and federal […] It is a valuable achievement of many generations and an extreme responsibility to preserve”, as well as “an instrument of social justice that produces upward social mobility, the place that houses hope and makes the dreams of thousands of young people possible.” In closing, they asked the Supreme Court of Justice to “not allow the national government to continue failing to comply with the university financing law.”
