Argentines protest Milei's funding cuts to prized public universities

Tens of thousands of Argentines were flooding the streets of major cities nationwide to protest funding cuts by libertarian President Javier Milei to the public university system — a near-universal point of pride in this crisis-prone country.

Vast crowds marched Tuesday toward the government headquarters to denounce budget shortfalls eroding the financial foundation of higher education in Argentina despite a law passed last year to fund universities’ operational costs and raise teacher salaries in line with high inflation.

Argentina’s public university system, a cornerstone of its well-educated workforce cherished by its large middle class, has been tuition-free since 1949 and produced five Nobel Prize laureates.