The nightmarish scene of unprecedented repression stood in stark contrast to the peaceful actions of the columns of protesters, who—soaked with water and nearly suffocated by tear gas—regrouped and turned back. Photo: AP
October 17, 2026
Dozens of people were injured and arrested, and journalists, photographers, and cameramen were attacked—this was the outcome on Thursday of one of the most brutal crackdowns ever seen in this capital, aimed at preventing the fifth massive march of students, teachers, university workers, and educators from reaching the Plaza del Congreso de la Nación. The marchers were demanding the budget rightfully allocated to public universities—a debt that judges, in more than four rulings, had ordered President Javier Milei’s government to pay and to end the underfunding of education, a mandate the government has never fulfilled.
Students from high schools and various sectors of society—including family members of the unemployed, people with disabilities, retirees, and others—who were marching peacefully faced a nearly three-hour-long, nonstop assault of tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons from several fire trucks, all at once, under a rain that at times fell relentlessly, yet failed to stop the columns of young people who retreated and then returned.
Unprecedented Repression against a Peaceful Demonstration
The harrowing scene of this unprecedented repression stood in stark contrast to the peaceful actions of the columns of demonstrators who, soaked by water and nearly suffocated by the gas, regrouped and returned. Journalists reported the presence of a group of about 15 infiltrators with their faces covered; from a distance, they threw stones and objects at police officers behind the barricades, providing the pretext to launch the attack just as the university rectors were beginning their speeches.
At dusk, the infantry’s motorcycles also launched a manhunt, and as of this writing, the number of those detained was unknown. The new tactic involved creating clouds of tear gas, affecting all residents of buildings near Congress—which had been surrounded by barricades since early in the day—extending to all streets leading to the site, like a war zone taken over by uniformed forces.
police begin to swarm for an unwarranted attack
The equipment and arsenal of weapons now at the disposal of these forces—the largest and most significant ever seen in the country for the purpose of internal repression—are supplied by Israel, the largest provider of weapons, ammunition, equipment, pepper spray, advisors, and instructors to all security forces.
The day dawned with hope, amid a crisis that not even the pro-government media can hide, because the Chamber of Deputies had the opportunity to repeal the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU 70/2023), which Milei announced 10 days after taking office, on December 20, 2023.
This decree contained the government’s plan to dismantle the national state, destroy education and public health, deregulate everything, privatize public enterprises, and replace the Constitution without convening a constituent assembly—which, by law, is the only way to amend it. To date, all measures taken by this government have been enacted through decrees.
To reaffirm the provisions of DNU 70/2023, on December 27, 2023, the so-called Framework Law was sent to Congress; due to the opposition’s weakness, it ultimately granted all powers— executive, legislative, and judicial powers to the president, who appeared out of nowhere during the 2022–23 election campaign with a chainsaw in hand, as he heralded the end of the Argentine state, warning that he himself was “the mole” destined to destroy the state from within.
He did so immediately, eliminating key ministries—of the original 18, only nine remain; the rest are secretariats—and from the very first days, he destroyed the entire public communication and information system, in addition to dismantling cultural institutions and pursuing his as-yet-unfulfilled dream of eliminating universities, public education, and the sciences. This is merely a summary of everything that has ceased to exist.
Congress, a symbol of government corruption
a pre ordained attack by the police
Congress exists as a symbol of government corruption, after analyzing what happened this Thursday when Emergency Decree No. 70/2023 was issued—a decree considered by leading legal experts to be “absolutely and irremediably null and void,” as constitutional lawyer Andrés Gil Domínguez told *Página/12* today—given that the Executive Branch cannot issue “provisions of a legislative nature,” as stated in Article 99 of the Constitution.
Hopes that this session would put an end to this scourge were dashed by corruption, which once again deployed its most potent weapons to ensure that governors and legislators—several of them Peronists—would sell themselves to the highest bidder. It is so evident that on this very day those same governors received a pittance in funds for “certain public works.” Meanwhile, the government has not sent the revenue-sharing funds to the provinces of Buenos Aires and La Rioja, whose governors, Axel Kicillof and Ricardo Qintela, respectively, are constantly at odds with the Milei administration.
Some of the security and defense agreements—signed primarily with the United States and Israel—never passed through Congress; these agreements undermine national sovereignty by imposing a foreign policy that has turned Argentina into one of the largest colonies it has ever occupied, without firing a single shot in the 21st century, analysts point out.
Source: La Jornada, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English