ARGENTINIAN universities began a 24-hour strike on Thursday.
The National Interuniversity Council (CIN), professors’ and workers’ unions, and student organisations held the 24-hour strike in defence of Argentina’s public universities.
Besides demanding salary increases and a larger university budget, the national strike aimed to oppose the latest decisions made by the Chamber of Deputies, which approved President Javier Milei’s veto of the university financing law.
Next week, university communities will also carry out other protest actions such as vigils, classes in public spaces, roadblocks, and the occupation of faculties, university offices, and pre-university schools.
‘There are no negotiations of any kind with President Javier Milei’s administration. This lack of dialogue is a very serious problem because it shows the breakdown of the democratic pact in Argentina,’ said Carlos De Feo, a member of the National Federation of University Teachers (CONADU).
Graduate student Pablo Catilla posted on X @PabloCastilla00: ‘The student movement in Argentina’s universities is an example of how to confront the right. The struggle is taking place with massive assemblies in each faculty, in unity with the teaching staff and administrative staff, with health workers and retirees.’
Currently, 70 per cent of professors and administrative staff at Argentine universities earn salaries below the poverty line. This is happening due to the economic policies implemented by Milei.
For this reason, starting next Monday, the Argentine University Federation (FUA) and university teachers will stage a 48-hour strike to demand negotiations that acknowledge the specific conditions of university workers and offer a solution to the severe salary situation.
On Wednesday, the far-right Milei administration began spreading narratives to justify possible repressive actions against those protesting in support of universities. Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, said that the demonstrators aim to provoke uprisings ‘in the Chilean style’, meaning protests involving Molotov cocktails and other forms of violent action.
However, the response from the university community was once again felt with the peaceful occupation of more than 80 buildings across the country, reported the newspaper ‘Pagina 12’.
Argentine students and teachers from the National University of Quilmes (UNQ) in Buenos Aires reported being attacked with pepper spray on Monday, October 14, during an assembly while they decided to take the establishment in repudiation of the government’s policies of de-financing and veto the law on funding of universities.
The aggression was initiated by a group of people associated with the party of the president Javier Milei, who posed as students to break into a university assembly.
In the university’s account on social network X, they report that people entered the campus intimidatingly and threw pepper spray at students, only to report that they had been attacked in the first place.
María Eugenia Dichano, a teacher and researcher at the centre, said that around seven o’clock in the evening, when she was finishing the assembly of the teaching staff, and minutes before the students’ meeting began, a young woman approached them to ask for help because there was a ‘group of provocateurs’ who had shirts and flags from the president’s party.
The students asked them to step aside to let them deliberate on the future of the protest actions, and these people began to assault and pepper spray the more than 500 who were there, in a closed space. The effect was felt by a large proportion of the people.
The teacher added that after the incidents, several people had to receive attention from SAME (public emergency medical services) and that they lodged a complaint at the Bernal police station.
Hours later, the chief of staff of the province of Buenos Aires, Carlos Bianco, and the mayor of Quilmes, Mayra Mendoza, were present.
- A new terrorist attack on Venezuela’s electrical system on Wednesday October 16 reportedly impacted approximately 25% of the country, according to official reports.
Electricity Minister, Jorge Márquez, described the incident as sabotage against the National Electric System (SEN), noting significant fluctuations in several states and in the capital, Caracas.
The effects of the attack were felt immediately in the capital, where the subway service was forced to suspend operations for about an hour. Authorities have reported that services are gradually being restored.
While not providing specific details, the minister attributed the outage to an ‘attack on the transmission system’.
In response to the situation, Minister Márquez assured that Corpoelec, the state electricity company, is working diligently to recover power and restore services in affected areas. He estimated that normalising the electricity supply would take between 40 minutes to an hour.
On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced he will attend the swearing-in ceremony to be held on January 10, 2025.
‘I have received the invitation from the board of the National Assembly to be sworn in as constitutional president for the term 2025-2031, before the legislative palace and the sovereign people,’ he said during the handover ceremony of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB).
‘I publicly confirm the receipt of the letter for the fulfilment of the oath in accordance with the constitution, before whom the victorious presidential candidate is sworn in,’ he stated from the Mountain Barracks in Caracas.
In his speech, Maduro pointed out that the FANB is not just an armed force but ‘the military power of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’, and urged continuing consolidating the constitution, military power, popular power, and ‘deep’ democracy.
‘We have implemented the necessary changes so that our FANB has an increasingly robust institutional life. We have a powerful institution, with moral and spiritual health and with high ideals and goals,’ the Venezuelan president said, congratulating the FANB officers and cadets.
During the event, Maduro participated in the handover and acceptance of the standards symbolising the Bolivarian Army, the Bolivarian Navy, the Bolivarian Air Force, the Bolivarian National Militia, the Presidential Honour Guard, and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service.
‘The strength of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces must continue to consolidate the Bolivarian revolutionary democracy. We must consolidate the empowerment of the people,’ Maduro said.
‘Our goal is not the liberal project nor the false bourgeois democracy that represents the elites who end up buying all the powers,’ he added.
- Also on Tuesday, the government of Mexico articulated its constitutional stance regarding the recent presidential elections in Venezuela, held on July 28, where Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner.
President Claudia Sheinbaum emphasised: ‘Our foreign policy is clearly defined in the constitution, which upholds the self-determination of peoples. While Colombia, Brazil, and the United States have their respective positions, ours is rooted in constitutional principles,’ during her morning conference.
She further noted that following the Venezuelan elections, there was an initial call from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico for transparency in the electoral results. ‘Moving forward, we will adopt an impartial stance on this matter,’ she added.
