researchers fear a collapse of science in Argentina

It’s been a year since libertarian President Javier Milei took office in Argentinaand national science is on the verge of collapse, researchers say. Milei’s agenda to reduce the country’s deficit and reduce inflation – which topped 211% last year – means that, as his administration’s slogan goes, “there is no money » for science or whatever.

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“We are in a very, very critical situation,” says Jorge Geffner, director of the Institute for Biomedical Research on Retroviruses and AIDS (INBIRS) in Buenos Aires. He adds that the Secretariat of Innovation, Science and Technology, once the country’s main science ministry but downgraded by Milei to a secretariat with less power, works with a budget less than a third of that of last year.

Argentine scientists paid by the government have lost up to 30% of their income, Geffner says. (As of 2022, the government funds about 60% of Argentina’s research and development, with the rest coming from the private sector and international contributions.) As a result, the country is facing a massive brain drain. At INBIRS, about half of its staff is considering finding jobs in other countries or is already completing the paperwork, Geffner adds.

“With six more months like this, there will be nothing left” of the scientific community, said Mariano Cantero, director of the Balseiro Institute in Bariloche, Argentina, which trains physicists and engineers.

The chainsaw strategy

Milei promised to “cut” Argentine government spending when he was campaigning for presidentto bring the economic crisis under control. Although the monthly inflation rate fell from 25.5% last December, when Milei took office, to 2.7% last October, poverty in the country increased by 11 percentage points. Gross domestic product of Argentina should decrease by 3.5% by the end of 2024, but recover by 5% in 2025.

Budget cuts have hit science particularly hard. The National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development and Innovation, which is the main funder of research projects in Argentina, almost halted its work under Milei, although 85% of its money comes from international agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank. . Alicia Caballero, who was president of the agency, resigned in September because the government did not authorize her to use the agency’s budget.