LatinNews Daily - 10 October 2024

*Argentina’s 257-seat lower chamber of congress has upheld President Javier Milei’s 3 October veto of a university financing bill which had been approved by congress last month. The lower chamber voted in favour of the bill that would have boosted university funding with 160 votes in favour, 85 against and five abstentions, falling just a handful of votes short of the two-thirds majority of deputies present needed to vote in favour of the bill and therefore overturn the veto. The vote to uphold the veto is a major boost for Milei, whose far-right La Libertad Avanza (LLA) has just 39 deputies. It follows a similar victory after the lower chamber voted last month to maintain a presidential veto of a bill that would have increased pension payments. As with last month’s vote to uphold the pensions bill veto, Milei benefitted from backing from the right-of-centre Propuesta Republicana (PRO) party of former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), which has 38 seats, among others. The vote took place as university students and professors staged protests outside the congress building against the veto, which has already drawn mass demonstrations this month. The Frente Sindical de Universidades Nacionales (FSUN), which groups various university unions, has called a complete strike for today (10 October) in response to the vote, and announced plans to “consolidate a battle plan in defence of salaries and university budgets”.