Tens of thousands of Argentines packed the streets of central Buenos Aires on Wednesday to demand more funding for public universities and pediatric healthcare, both hit by deep budget cuts under libertarian President Javier Milei’s austerity program.
Milei, whose approval ratings have slipped amid sweeping spending reductions, is also facing the fallout from a corruption scandal and a recent legislative defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. He heads into high-stakes midterm elections in October, when his party hopes to win enough seats to prevent the opposition-controlled Congress from overriding his vetoes.
Wednesday’s march was aimed at pressuring lawmakers to overturn Milei’s recent vetoes of laws that would have boosted financing for universities and children’s hospitals. In presidential decrees, Milei argued the measures would jeopardize the country’s fragile fiscal balance. Later that evening, the lower house of Congress voted to overturn both vetoes; the Senate must still approve the move for it to take effect.
Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has aggressively cut public spending and succeeded in pushing monthly inflation from double digits down to single digits. On Monday he unveiled his proposed 2025 budget, promising to maintain a fiscal balance while increasing allocations for healthcare by 17%, education by 8% and pensions by 5% above inflation.
But the National University of Buenos Aires called the proposal “a deepening of the unprecedented crisis” in the public university system, saying it ignores the need to restart stalled construction projects, maintain facilities and raise teachers’ salaries.
