Researchers, students and staff from public universities and institutions across Argentina staged a symbolic protest Wednesday to highlight what they say is the worst crisis in the country’s scientific and academic sector since the return of democracy.
Demonstrators gathered in Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Córdoba, Rosario, and other cities, denouncing salary cuts, lay-offs, vacancies and the defunding of the CONICET national scientific research institute and other institutions.
Protesters dressed as characters from El Eternauta, the iconic Argentine comic in which a toxic snowfall heralds catastrophe. Holding signs that read “Toxic snow is destroying Argentine science,” they warned that Javier Milei’s austerity measures are dismantling the public science system.
“We are present in Buenos Aires and across our beloved Argentina to defend the scientific and technological system, now under threat like never before,” organisers said in a speech read aloud at the demonstration. “After 17 months of this government, we have reached a critical point that will be extremely difficult to reverse.”
Since taking office, Milei has pursued a radical plan to slash state spending. The science and technology sector has not been spared. According to data compiled by the CIITI research watchdog, state investment in science and technology fell by 32.9 percent in 2024 – the largest reduction since records began in 1972.
CONICET’s budget alone fell by 17.8 percent in 2024 and is projected to drop another 21.6 percent in 2025, for a total real-terms collapse of roughly 36 percent. Meanwhile, the institute remains closed to new entrants, forcing young scientists to look elsewhere to develop their careers.
Franco Moscovicz, a member of the Federal Council for Science and Technology, told Perfil during the protest that “the system is under attack – even in areas the government claims to consider ‘priorities.’
Science “has been shut down, subsidies have been halted, and the wage collapse is so severe that it is destroying research teams and accelerating the emigration of researchers,” he said.
Since December 2023, more than 4,100 scientists and researchers have been removed from public institutions, including state universities and government tech agencies.
“The scientific system is in a critical condition that will be extremely difficult to reverse,” warned the official speech read out in Buenos Aires.
Protesters also criticised the closure of the Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (Agencia I+D+I, or National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development and Innovation), which they said was “the heart of funding for scientific and technological research in the country.”
Salaries for those who remain in post have fallen by an estimated 30 percent in real terms since late 2023. “Without workers, there is no science,” the protest document stated.
Many younger researchers are now abandoning their careers or seeking work abroad.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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