Tens of thousands marched through Buenos Aires on Saturday as left-wing parties, grassroots unions, and hospital workers rallied against President Javier Milei's proposed 2027 budget, which would repeal a disability emergency law and dramatically underfund public universities. The Marcha de la Bronca—March of Anger—stretched from Congress to Plaza de Mayo beside the presidential palace, with organizers announcing parallel gatherings in more than 30 cities including Rosario, Córdoba, Mendoza and Salta.
The protest targeted budget proposals that would strip protections from 1,148,484 people who received non-contributory disability pensions as of March 2026. Those pensions currently pay about US$176 a month, plus a US$46 bonus. Milei's budget would require a medical finding that a person can't work, replacing the current disability certificate standard, and would end automatic inflation updates for disability service fees. Providers say they're owed more than 340 billion pesos, about US$225 million, in emergency compensation.
Who Organized the March
Deputy Myriam Bregman of the Left Front, a Trotskyist alliance, was described as the main promoter. "We propose transforming anger into organisation and mobilisation," she said. Eduardo Belliboni of Polo Obrero, a movement of unemployed workers, and Deputy Nicolás del Caño also led the march. The Buenos Aires column gathered at Plaza Congreso at 15:30 and marched along Avenida de Mayo. Hospital workers from Garrahan, Argentina's leading children's hospital, joined rank-and-file union branches. Notably, the main union federation, the CGT, and the CTA didn't formally endorse the march.
The closing document called for higher wages and pensions, a ban on layoffs, repeal of the labour reform, a national strike and a break with the IMF.
The Disability Pension Controversy
Milei, a libertarian economist in his third year of office, has promised deep spending cuts to end chronic deficits. In 2025, Congress passed a disability emergency law and a university funding law, then overrode Milei's vetoes with two-thirds majorities. The government promulgated both laws but suspended the parts that cost money, citing lack of funding. Courts later ordered it to apply the university law, and unions said it still hadn't complied.
From 2024, the national disability agency, ANDIS, audited recipients and suspended 65,789 pensions. Chequeado reported in August 2025 that 46% of the audit letters never reached their recipients. The agency was later hit by leaked audio in which its former head, Diego Spagnuolo, allegedly discussed bribes. On September 4, 2026—15 days ago—officials told deputies that about 150,000 cancelled pensions had been restored with back pay.
The 2027 budget, filed on September 15, promised a fourth straight year of fiscal surplus, according to La Nación. It proposed repealing the disability emergency law outright, according to Infobae and La Nación. The centre-right PRO bloc said the proposal "completely changes the discussion."
Universities Face Funding Crisis
The university dispute centered on lecturer and staff pay, and on student grants. Law 27.795 orders the state to restore staff salaries lost to inflation since December 2023 and to update student grants. A federal appeals court confirmed an injunction about 6 months ago on March 31, 2026, and the Supreme Court rejected the government's final appeal in late June.
Unions said salaries still trailed inflation by about 32.5% since Milei took office, according to Actualidad a Diario. At talks on Thursday, September 17, the government offered 3% for September and 3% for October. All unions rejected it.
The 2027 budget allotted 7.3 trillion pesos, about US$4.8 billion, to national universities, while the national council of university rectors had asked for about 11 trillion pesos, US$7.3 billion. That's a shortfall of roughly US$2.5 billion. Teaching unions called strikes for September 18—one day ago—and September 22, and a fifth national university march for October 15. In Buenos Aires, the October march will head to the federal courts to press for compliance.
Government's Defense
The government said Argentina's recovery depends on never again spending money it doesn't have. Milei told his cabinet that "populism cannot be beaten with more populism," La Nación reported. On disability, officials said the pension system was riddled with fraud, including non-existent addresses and unmet medical requirements. Its April bill on the issue was titled the law "against disability pension fraud," El Cronista reported.
The Security Ministry said it would apply its protocol against road blockades, with reinforced fencing at Congress and Plaza de Mayo. "Marching peacefully is a right, violence is not," the ministry said, warning that those who cause damage will face consequences.
Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza, won more than 40% of the vote in the October 2025 midterm elections, NPR reported, giving him enough seats in the lower house to make future vetoes much harder to override. Deputies voted 172 to 73 to reject the veto on the disability emergency law, Law 27.793, about 1 year ago, and the Senate followed on September 4, 2025, by 63 votes to 7. The university funding law, Law 27.795, followed the same path, with both chambers overriding his veto by October 2025.
The government then invoked Law 24.629, which requires every spending law to name its source of funding. Decree 681/2025 promulgated the disability law but suspended it until funding is written into the budget, and a separate decree suspended the pay and scholarship articles of the university law on the same grounds.
Why This Matters:
The clash between Congress and the executive over disability protections and university funding reveals tensions between austerity policies and social safety nets in Argentina's economic crisis. More than a million people depend on disability pensions that average US$176 a month—barely enough to survive—and now face the prospect of losing them based on stricter medical requirements. University staff have seen their salaries eroded by 32.5% against inflation since December 2023, even as courts have ordered the government to restore purchasing power. The government's strategy of promulgating laws but suspending their funded provisions challenges democratic accountability: Congress passed both laws with veto-proof supermajorities, yet the executive has effectively nullified them by withholding implementation. The outcome will determine whether Argentina's fiscal adjustment falls disproportionately on its most vulnerable citizens—people with disabilities and students seeking upward mobility through public education—or whether democratic institutions can enforce social protections even during budget crises.