A general strike has begun in Argentina to protest against reforms by President Javier Milei’s new ultra-liberal government. According to television reports, thousands came to a rally on Wednesday in the Plaza del Congreso in front of the National Congress in the capital Buenos Aires. The South American country’s largest union, the CGT, had called for the strike.
Other unions have also joined the protest. Many areas such as transport, public administration and healthcare were affected. Flights were canceled and banks were supposed to close from midday. Public transport should be stopped until midnight in the evening.
With over 600 articles of law, the government plans to reorganize the Argentine economy by privatizing state-owned companies, eliminating the right to free university education, deregulating the economy and imposing higher penalties on demonstrators who defy government regulations.
The protest is directed, among other things, against an emergency decree signed by Milei with 30 measures. With this, the president wants to repeal several laws regulating the labor and real estate markets. However, Argentine courts have already reversed part of the regulation.
“No strike can stop us”
The general strike also opposes a major reform package that the government presented to Congress at the end of December and which envisages the declaration of a “public emergency.” This would give the government extensive powers to decide on issues that can currently only be regulated by parliament.
Already in December, numerous people took to the streets in several cities. The controversial authorization package is scheduled to be discussed in Congress on Thursday. “No strike can stop us, no threat can intimidate us,” said Security Minister Patricia Bullrich on the X platform. Since Milei’s party does not have a majority in parliament, the government has massively revised the original bill in recent days to accommodate the opposition.