Tens-of-thousands Argentines protest Milei’s pension cuts and other austerity measures

Argentine protesters clashed with police outside the country’s Congress on Wednesday, after lower house lawmakers narrowly upheld a veto of a planned hike to pensions by right-wing President Javier Milei.

A protester in Buenos Aires Wednesday carries a sign demanding a “living wage” pension following the failure of Congress to override President Javier Milei veto.

The chamber of deputies voted 153 in favor of the pension hike with 87 against it, falling just short of the two-thirds needed to approve the bill after Milei had previously vetoed it saying that it put the country’s plan for a fiscal balance at risk.

As news of the vote spread, hundreds of people protesting in central Buenos Aires broke down barriers erected by police and clashed with security forces with in riot gear in the streets.

Argentina’s government is pushing a tough austerity package of spending cuts to overturn years of fiscal deficits and tame high inflation, which has helped bolster the state’s finances, but hit the real economy and left more people in poverty.

The pension increase, approved by both houses of Congress, would have provided a substantial increase in monthly payments to retirees to adjust for inflation, which has run above 100% for three years. Supporters of the measure say the buying power of government pensions has declined by more than 70% since 2020.