Students from Argentine public universities escalated their repudiation, this Wednesday 16th, of the budget cut adopted by the president’s government Javier Mileywith dozens of public classes, occupations of colleges and a march with torches scheduled for the night, as a preview of a federal mobilization with no set date yet.
At the University of Buenos Aires, the faculties of Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Literature, Economic Sciences, Social Sciences and Exact Sciences took their classes to the streets as a sign of protest against the economic adjustment in public universities, where 80% of those enrolled in the university study. higher education.
mercy vetoed a law approved in Augustwhich granted more resources to universities, claiming that the text put its fiscal balance policy at risk, despite Congress estimating that it represented only 0.14% of GDP.
The funds were intended to compensate for the loss of purchasing power in the salaries of teachers and administrative staff, in the context of a inflation which reached 209% in September compared to the previous year, one of the highest in the world.
In the Caballito neighborhood, Literature students placed desks and blackboards on the sidewalk, where teachers taught loudly, with traffic interruptions that were tolerated by the police.
At other colleges, students occupied buildings in a peaceful atmosphere, allowing classes to be held inside.
Teachers’ unions announced a 24-hour strike for this Thursday and another 48-hour strike between Monday and Tuesday of next week.
At dusk this Wednesday, students and teachers will march with torches from the headquarters of the Medicine, Dentistry and Economic Sciences faculties, in the city center, to the Department of Education building, about seven blocks away.
“All united for an increase in salaries and budget, let us defend the public university together”, says the call.
Two other marches have already been held and had a large turnout.
The atmosphere is effervescent in all public universities, with daily assemblies discussing the definition of a date for a federal march in Buenos Aires.
Milei warned on Tuesday that he will not give in to the demands and announced that he will order audits at universities, which he accused of hiding “curros” (crimes).
The Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrichstated this Wednesday that the student protests “want to generate a revolt in the Chilean model”, citing the violent mobilizations that took place in the neighboring country in 2019.
“Their objective is to generate a revolt and try to destabilize” the government, Bullrich accused. “We will not allow it, we are not fools.”
