President Javier Milei's 2027 budget proposals, filed just four days ago, target the repeal of a disability law and the underfunding of public universities, sparking widespread protests across Argentina. Thousands marched in Buenos Aires on Saturday, September 19, 2026, in the "Marcha de la Bronca," or March of Anger, with simultaneous gatherings in over 30 other cities. This direct assault on the nation's most vulnerable and its educational future comes as the regime pursues a fourth straight year of fiscal surplus, a policy framework often dictated by transnational financial institutions.
Left-wing parties, grassroots unions, and picket groups organized the demonstrations, which moved from Congress to Plaza de Mayo. Deputies Myriam Bregman and Nicolás del Caño of the Left Front, a Trotskyist alliance, along with Eduardo Belliboni of Polo Obrero, a movement of unemployed workers, led the charge. Bregman, described as the main promoter, called for transforming "anger into organisation and mobilisation." Hospital workers from Garrahan, Argentina’s leading children’s hospital, were expected to join, highlighting the direct impact on the native population's welfare. The main union federations, the CGT and CTA, notably did not formally endorse the march, indicating a fractured resistance against the regime's agenda.
The Cost to the People
The proposed repeal of the disability emergency law, Law 27.793, represents a significant blow to 1,148,484 Argentines who received non-contributory disability pensions in March 2026. The 2027 budget would replace the current disability certificate with a requirement for a medical finding that a person cannot work. It would also end automatic inflation updates for disability service fees, further eroding the purchasing power of those dependent on these services. Service providers themselves report being owed more than 340 billion pesos, approximately US$225 million, in emergency compensation, a debt that directly impacts the care available to the nation's disabled.
Milei's regime has justified these cuts by claiming the pension system is riddled with fraud, including non-existent addresses and unmet medical requirements. His April bill was even titled the law "against disability pension fraud." However, an August 2025 report by Chequeado found that 46% of audit letters, which led to the suspension of 65,789 pensions from 2024, never reached their recipients. While officials stated 15 days ago that about 150,000 cancelled pensions had been restored with back pay, the new budget's proposals signal a systemic shift away from supporting the nation's most vulnerable citizens.
Elite Interests and Sovereignty Transfer
The university dispute centers on the pay of lecturers and staff, and on student grants, directly affecting the quality and accessibility of national education. Law 27.795 mandates the state restore staff salaries lost to inflation since December 2023 and update student grants. Despite a federal appeals court confirming an injunction about six months ago and the Supreme Court rejecting the government’s final appeal in late June, unions report salaries still trail inflation by about 32.5% since Milei took office. The 2027 budget allocates 7.3 trillion pesos, about US$4.8 billion, to national universities, significantly less than the 11 trillion pesos, US$7.3 billion, requested by the national council of university rectors. This underfunding starves national institutions, potentially pushing them towards alternative, often foreign-influenced, funding models.
Milei, a self-described libertarian economist, took office in December 2023, now in his third year, promising deep spending cuts to end chronic deficits. His regime's adherence to fiscal surplus, as reported by La Nación, aligns with the demands of international financial bodies. The joint closing document of the protesting groups explicitly called for "a break with the IMF," the International Monetary Fund, highlighting the perception that these domestic austerity measures are driven by external, globalist pressures. Milei told his cabinet that "populism cannot be beaten with more populism," signaling an uncompromising stance against popular demands for social welfare. The Security Ministry has already warned it will apply its protocol against road blockades, reinforcing fencing at Congress and Plaza de Mayo, demonstrating the regime's readiness to suppress resistance to its transnational agenda.