BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) 鈥 In a burst of adrenaline, the Argentine students charged into oncoming traffic.
Trucks screeched to a halt. Motorbikes swerved. Some drivers flipped their middle fingers, yelling insults. Others pumped their fists in solidarity, howling, 鈥淧ublic and free education!鈥 as the took over lane after highway lane, their fear turning to gasping, giddy exhilaration as they chanted against libertarian university budget cuts.
鈥淲e're here for our teachers, to demand that they get decent salaries,鈥 said architecture student Ivan Rocha, struggling to be heard over the singing and honking.
Last week's road blockades were the latest in a series of protests this month expected to intensify across Argentina in response to Milei's veto of a law increasing funding for public universities. Many professors began a 48-hour strike Monday.
After to abandon their support for the teacher salary boost meant to compensate for , Milei鈥檚 minority far-right government upheld the veto in the Senate earlier this month. The measure would have cost 0.14% of gross domestic product, according to a congressional budget analysis.
鈥淚t was a test of Milei鈥檚 strength, to show that he鈥檚 able to sustain a presidential veto," said Ignacio Labaqui, a Buenos Aires-based senior analyst at risk consultancy Medley Global Advisors. 鈥淚t goes beyond a mere economic calculus."
The president, in November 2023 , has .
鈥淭hey are only interested in their coffers to maintain their privileges,鈥 Milei said after his legislative victory, attacking public universities as hotbeds of leftist radicals with too much administrative bloat. Authorities on Monday began an audit of how the immense University of Buenos Aires, or UBA, spends state funding.
For the chronically overcrowded and underfunded universities, which saw a 30% budget reduction during Milei's 10 months in office, the veto is seen as nothing short of a threat to Argentina's proud system of free tuition and open admissions 鈥 long a bedrock of middle-class advancement.
鈥淲e have reached a point that is unprecedented in the democratic history of our country, and, if this continues, we'll be at a point of no return,鈥 warned Ricardo Gelpi, the rector of UBA.
Over the first weeks of October, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across the country, to remote mountain valleys.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fundamental right that I grew up with,鈥 said Ivan Fleming, a 24-year-old student of education at the University of La Plata near the capital. 鈥淚 feel that my own desire of being a teacher one day is under attack.鈥
Last week, 鈥 delivering lectures through microphones to students who struggled to maintain focus as honking cars streamed past their wooden desks. On Tuesday, protesters plan a vast 鈥渢each-in鈥 at Plaza de Mayo, the main government square, to demand that teachers' paychecks keep pace with inflation, .
鈥淪tudents are spearheading this movement, and if we win, it will be an example to workers and everyone else fighting for their salaries,鈥 said 22-year-old University of Buenos Aires protester Micaela Fioresta.
That is what Milei hopes to prevent.
into one of the biggest showdowns of Milei鈥檚 tenure, marshaling an unusually wide cross-section of the Argentine public.
鈥淗e got a taste of the consequences in April and one would assume he wouldn鈥檛 want to engage in this conflict again,鈥 said Marcelo J. Garc铆a, director for the Americas at New York-based geopolitical risk consultancy Horizon Engage.
Under pressure in April, Milei increased the budget enough for universities to keep their lights on and elevators running.
But the raise to cover operational costs didn鈥檛 account for teachers' salaries 鈥 already low wages that shriveled by 24% between November 2023 and August 2024, according to the federation of university unions.
With dragging an estimated in the last half-year, over 70% of teachers鈥 salaries now fall below the official poverty line, Argentina鈥檚 national council of universities estimates.
The government offered bumping teachers鈥 meager paychecks up by 6.8%. Unions have asked for 63.5%.
Universities warn of mass resignations as more teachers take their energies to private classrooms and lessons. The University of Qulimes in the Buenos Aires Province announced last week that critical resource shortages had forced it to suspend some course enrollment.
鈥淲e've had attempts to cut back spending before, but this is unlike anything I've ever seen,鈥 said Ana Rusconi, a sociologist at the University of La Plata, who also teaches high school to augment her $200 a month professor's salary. 鈥淭he protests now aren't even about moving forward, they're about recovering what the government stole from us.鈥
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Associated Press reporter Almudena Calatrava contributed to this report.
