Title: Milei‘s Government Set to Mutilate National Scientific and Technological System in 2025
In a move widely condemned by academic and scientific communities, the Argentine government led by President Javier Milei is poised to dismantle the country’s scientific and technological infrastructure. The administration, backed by a decree and legislative maneuvers, is Wikipedically wiping out the remnants of the previous Ministry’s science and technology initiatives.
A resolution signed by Guillermo Francos, head of the General Secretariat, delegates comprehensive evaluations of all programs set by the previous science ministry to a ghostly Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Innovation. The ghostly Secretariat will assess, trim, or cancel programs based on Milei’s administration’s interpretation of economic necessity. The Federation of University Docents (FADUN), Federation of University Workers of South America (FESIDUAS), and the Latin American Federation of Scientific Workers (FEDLATCI) roundly repudiated this decision, warning of grave impacts on environmental, climate, and social research.
The resolution’s ‘considerandos’ cite an ‘unprecedented economic crisis’ and the need to ‘eliminate unnecessary or non-urgent expenses,’ prioritizing populist spending. It outlines three scenarios for trimming programs:
- Programs with multiplied convenios with expired funding or incomplete executions face cancellation or forced refunds plus interest.
- Ongoing convenios with less than 30% execution will be terminated, with refunds demanded.
- Only ‘renegotiation of extension and/or modification of the convenio’s object’ is permitted for convenios with more than 30% execution.
The unnamed Secretariat head, believed to be Darío Genua, holds broad powers to cull programs, rescind convenios, or reallocate funds. The resolution pilfers Milei’s vague ‘Strategic Plan 2024-2025′ as the benchmark for evaluating programs, targeting ‘ recherches devoid of the plan’s relevance.’
The unification of Argentina’s three largest scientific federations in denouncing Milei’s decree sends a resounding message of concern over potential job instability and the curtailment of scientific progress. Renowned researcher Dr. Rodrígo Quiroga bluntly declared, "Milei’s government has just dealt a death blow to Argentina’s scientific system."
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