The Argentine science and technology system faces the worst adjustment in its history. In the new Argentina promoted by the far-right Javier Milei, researchers are described as "parasites." "I see a black future," says biochemist Raquel Chan, who has dedicated more than a decade to researching the resistance of various crops to drought.
"We have resources left for two months. I tell it calmly because I already cried," says the director of the Ferreyra Institute, in Córdoba. The authorities assure that a restructuring is being carried out, but they do not provide guidelines to scientific organizations, while fear of a new "brain drain" multiplies, as has already occurred in the past with the expulsion of thousands of scientists. The government has eliminated the Ministry of Science and demoted it to a Secretariat led by Alejandro Cosentino, a Business Administration graduate with no experience in the scientific field. The National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) was created in 1958 by the de facto Government of Pedro Aramburu. The Milei Government operates with the same budget as in 2023, without expanding items. Now, institutes are struggling to pay electricity rates, which have increased by around 150% since March. 'It is not known what conditions there will be in the future. Basic science always emerges supported by the State. There is no country that does not support it,' she summarizes with concern, adding that all countries that have progressed did so thanks to investment in science and technology, 'even countries with right-wing governments,'she adds, trying to counter Milei's arguments..