Thousands march in Argentina in defense of public universities

(23 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Buenos Aires, Argentina - 23 April 2024
1. Various of thousands demonstrating at Plaza de Mayo ++MUTE++
2. Thousands packed by Buenos Aires' Cathedral and nearby avenues ++MUTE++
3. University directors leading the march with a banner that reads (Spanish) "In defense of the public universities," people chanting UPSOUND (Spanish) "The motherland is not for sale"
4. University faculty chanting
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Emiliano Yacobitti, vice-rector of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA):
"The meaning of the march is to defend the Argentine public university, which is the main tool for social equality because without equal opportunities, without the possibility of progress for those who do not have resources, there is no equality, and without equality, there is no freedom whatsoever possible"
6. Thousands packed by Buenos Aires' Cabildo and nearby avenues ++MUTE++
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Emiliano Yacobitti, vice-rector of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA):
"The risk is the risk of closure (of the UBA)" (Reporter: When?) The adjustment was 70 percent. Imagine that in anyone's family, if you make an adjustment like that. We'll have to close."
8. Protesters carry a caricatures of Argentine President Javier Milei chanting UPSOUND (Spanish) "Milei, garbage, you are the dictatorship"
9. Students carry signs that read (Spanish) "public education equals quality and rights" and "do not cut our future"
10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Agustina Guiñez, 21, UBA law student:
"It is important for all of us who live in democracy to defend the public university, and especially public education. So we say no to budget cuts, I think it is something that concerns us all and it is important that we are here."
11. A protester holds a sign that reads (Spanish) "no to the adjustment to education"
12. Various of students jumping and chanting UPSOUND (Spanish) "those who don't jump voted for Milei"
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Pablo Justos, protester:
"I want all children in this country to grow up with free quality education. I come to support and I come to protest for the retirees who are being trampled by everyone."
14. Man playing drums
15. Protesters with a banner with a caricature of Milei
16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Andrea Guzman, community teacher:
"We disagree with the starving policies of the current president who wants to take away all the rights we have achieved and now he is coming for education. By the way, thanks to public education, many people in the shanty towns can have access to it, and if it is privatized we will not be able to continue studying."
17. Various of protesters with a large Argentina flag
18. Protesters with a Wiphala Indigenous flag
19. Police protecting the Casa Rosada presidential palace
20. Thousands demonstrating at Plaza de Mayo ++MUTE++
STORYLINE:
Students, teachers, rectors, unions and social organizations demonstrated on Tuesday in different Argentine cities in protest against the precarious situation of dozens of public universities due to the lack of budget by President Javier Milei's austerity policies.
Thousands of protesters marched from Congress in Buenos Aires - heavily guarded by security forces - to the Plaza de Mayo, where the government house is located.
Since last July, when the fiscal year began, the 200-year-old University of Buenos Aires, or UBA, has received just 8.9% of its total budget from the state as annual inflation now hovers near 290%.
The university says that’s barely enough to keep lights on and provide basic services in teaching hospitals that have already cut capacity.
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