Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES

Argentine President Javier Milei has made good on threats to veto proposed increases to university funding, with the measure made official early on Thursday after a day of major student-led protests.

Thousands of Argentines joined the demonstration in defense of the country's cherished public university system, the second large-scale protest in six months on the issue.

The law, which would have guaranteed funding for universities, angered Milei who came to power vowing to take a figurative chainsaw to public spending to tame chronically high inflation and eliminate the deficit.

While inflation has fallen, his spending cuts have been blamed for a surge in poverty levels, which affected more than half the population in the first six months of his presidency.

A huge crowd packed a vast square outside Congress in central Buenos Aires. Protests were also held in several cities nationwide on Oct. 2.

In April, hundreds of thousands of Argentines took to the streets in a first pivotal show of anger over Milei's policies after the government froze university funding for 2024 at the same level as 2023, despite persistently high inflation.

The government responded by increasing funding for university hospitals and infrastructure.

At the center of the latest protests was a new law passed by Congress that provided for universities to receive regular funding increases, and for teachers and staff to receive salary increases to counteract the effects of annual inflation of 236 percent in August.

Milei vetoed the law after calling the salary increases for teachers "unjustified."