Argentine students who have been protesting for a year President Javier Milei’s refusal to implement a law that will finance public universities, say it’s time to “create a Paris in Buenos Aires” and emulate French students who are protesting the destruction of national education in that country. Public universities in Argentina are tuition-free and are the backbone of the country’s higher education system. The Congress passed the law in October of 2025 and overrode Milei’s veto, and courts subsequently turned down his appeals, but he has refused to implement the law, saying that it doesn’t indicate where the money will come from.

On Oct. 7, about 100 students from four universities peacefully occupied the first floor of the historic Pizzurna building in Buenos Aires which houses the offices of the Education Secretary, some calling out that “France is our model.” One student leader from the University of Buenos Aires was quoted saying, “We’re tired of begging for what is ours. We’ve done everything”—marched, given classes in public plazas, blocked the streets, signed petitions. “We’re out of patience,” Diario del Norte reported her saying.