Here's why Argentina's public universities are paralyzed by protests

abcnews.go.com:

After 11 months in office, Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei has fulfilled his flagship pledge to eliminate the country’s monumental deficits by shrinking the public payroll, slashing subsidies and holding already low wages of state workers...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — After 11 months in office, Argentina's right-wing President Javier Milei has fulfilled his flagship pledge to eliminate the country's monumental deficits by shrinking the public payroll, slashing subsidies and suppressing already low wages of state workers.

The austerity has spawned misery. But with the country’s left-wing opposition in disarray after delivering the economic disaster that Milei inherited, Argentina hasn’t seen the kind of widespread social unrest that has characterized past economic crises.

That could change. The country's teachers are fed up.

Milei’s recent veto of a bill boosting spending on university budgets struck a collective nerve in a nation that long has considered free education a critical engine of social progress, drawing the broadest demonstrations since the libertarian leader took office.

Last week's open-air classes held in Plaza de Mayo, the main square home to government headquarters, marked the latest in a new wave of protests supporting public universities that has gripped Argentina over the past month. Students are taking over college campuses in the coming days ahead of another mass protest.

Here’s a look at what students are protesting and what it means for Milei's effort to transform crisis-prone Argentina into an economic success story.

Professors and non-teaching staff at public universities across Argentina are demanding a pay raise to compensate for sky-high inflation that they say has shrunk