By Nicolás Misculin
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Argentines filled the streets of downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday to demand increased funding for universities and pediatric care, which have suffered cuts under libertarian President Javier Milei’s austerity measures.
Milei’s popularity has declined following his deep budget cuts, and he is dealing with the fallout from a corruption scandal and a legislative defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections earlier this month.
Milei faces high-stakes midterm elections in October, in which his party aims to secure enough seats to keep the opposition-controlled Congress from overriding his vetoes.
Wednesday’s protest aims to pressure legislators to reject Milei’s vetoes earlier this month of laws that would have increased funding of public universities and pediatric hospitals. In presidential decrees, Milei said the laws would harm the country’s fiscal balance.
On Wednesday evening, Congress’ lower house voted to overturn both vetoes. The Senate must also do so in order for the vetoes to be overturned.
Since Milei took office in December 2023, he has dramatically slashed public spending and succeeded in bringing down monthly inflation from double to single digits. On Monday he announced the government’s proposal for next year’s budget, which he said would guarantee a fiscal balance while also including increases of 17% in allocations for healthcare, 8% for education and 5% for pensions, on top of inflation.
But in a statement, the National University of Buenos Aires said the proposed budget “doesn’t do more than deepen the unprecedented crisis” that the public university system is experiencing. It held that the proposal does not take into account resuming halted infrastructure projects and maintenance and increasing teacher salaries.
(Reporting by Leila Miller; Editing by Richard Chang)
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