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The rise of authoritarian political projects in Latin America is causing lasting damage to government institutions and reaching less visible, although equally decisive, dimensions of democratic life. In Argentina, the weakening of public science and technology sectors is becoming one of the clearest signs of this erosion. Cuts to science funding undermine society’s capacity to produce critical knowledge, have informed public debates, and design evidence-based policies.
Javier Milei’s inauguration as president in 2023 revealed a shift in the role of public scientific knowledge in the country. Following a political campaign centered around slashing funding via chainsaw, science and technology were redefined as non-essential spending within the logic of fiscal austerity. Budget cuts, the suspension of research programs, declining enrollment in science careers, and the dismemberment of state agencies have wreaked havoc in the lives of researchers and affected the institutional bases that guarantee knowledge autonomy.
The work done by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CONICET) in Argentina ties the production of scientific knowledge to real social demands. Their programs range from the development of satellite technologies, to the production of bioethanol for a cleaner and more locally efficient energy grid, to innovations around seed coating to increase agricultural production. Other projects have direct impacts on the country’s social issues, like projects aimed at digitizing human rights archives—among them the Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo archive—and using AI tools to aid in the search for children separated from their families during the dictatorship. These initiatives position the CONICET as a strategic pillar for national development with a deep sense of social justice.
The cuts implemented by the government jeopardize this type of research and hinder Argentina’s sovereign knowledge. The government’s policy is part of a minimal-state paradigm that distrusts expert knowledge and any form of knowledge production that is not subordinated to the criteria of immediate profitability.
Measuring The Loss
The magnitude of the cuts is easy to see. Argentina is currently facing one of the most severe periods of underfunding of its scientific system in the country’s recent history.
Investment in science and technology fell to 0.15 percent of the country’s GDP in 2025—the lowest ever recorded—which is well under the minimum established by law for the National Science, Technology, and Innovation System (Sistema Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, SNCTI). This is part of a trend, as the sector’s budget has been decreasing for the past two years. It decreased by 30.3 percent in 2024 and continued to fall in 2025 in real terms, accumulating a reduction of nearly 50 percent compared to previous years.
The government’s policy is part of a minimal-state paradigm that distrusts expert knowledge and any form of knowledge production that is not subordinated to the criteria of immediate profitability.
The cuts had a cascading effect throughout the system. Funds formally allocated in 2022 to research programs were not disbursed, leading to the suspension of ongoing projects. Laboratories were forced to reduce or halt their activities, and research teams struggled to sustain even basic operations, such as paying their electricity and water bills.
Between late 2023 and 2025, approximately 4,000 jobs were lost due to the suspension of mechanisms for entering the scientific career track and the reduction in doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships. In addition, a long-standing mechanism for staff turnover—replacing retiring employees with new hires—was halted, a situation that deepened the sector’s stagnation. On top of this, scientists’ salaries fell by an estimated 30–35 percent in real terms due to inflation and the lack of adjustments. Given that the remuneration offered by CONICET is not enough to support a household, researchers have been forced to take on undeclared side jobs—even though the system requires exclusivity in the position—reducing their focus on key projects and slowing knowledge production.
“The labs are empty and the salaries are extremely low. It’s truly disgraceful. There are researchers who are making food at home to sell, or driving for Uber; they’re struggling to get by, and they’ll tell you straight up that they can’t make ends meet. It’s especially difficult for those who have families and are the breadwinners,” said a doctor in biology and CONICET researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, who spoke under condition of anonymity because they are afraid of facing backlash from the government.
Today’s Adjustments, Tomorrow’s Dependency
Weakening the science sector erodes the country’s ability to formulate evidence-based public policies. Instead, the government has favored decision-making guided by ideological criteria or oversimplifications in the face of complex problems.
At a regional level, these dynamics are part of a broader pattern. Across the Americas, authoritarian governments have maintained tense—or even openly hostile—relationships with universities, scientific institutions, and academic communities. These conflicts are often accompanied by anti-intellectual rhetoric that casts scientists as disconnected elites, dismissing their contributions to public debates. Additionally, attacks on science often go hand in hand with negationist ideas about climate change and social inequality.
Across the Americas, authoritarian governments have maintained tense—or even openly hostile—relationships with universities, scientific institutions, and academic communities.
The consequences of these dynamics are difficult to reverse. Building scientific capacity requires decades of sustained investment in training researchers, maintaining infrastructure, and developing international collaboration networks. Once dismantled, these networks cannot be easily rebuilt in the short term. Meanwhile, the brain drain and the push of young scientists toward other job sectors are accelerating, deepening dependence.
In this regard, the CONICET biologist notes that the laboratory where they work has very few staff members because, in their words, “students don’t want to join the labs; students who are typically working on their theses or doing internships aren’t even coming by because they don’t see it as a path to future employment.”
Leticia Medina, Ph.D. in Social Sciences, professor at the National University of Córdoba (UNC) and Secretary General of the Association of Professors and Researchers of the UNC (ADIUC), highlighted the impact that the lack of funding has on areas that require fieldwork in different locations. “In conversations with colleagues from the Faculty of Exact Sciences, they mentioned that the usual field trips with students have been modified,” she said. “They’ve had to cancel many of these trips or change the locations, meaning the opportunity for direct contact with the subjects of study is lost.”
The CONICET researcher also noted that the budget cuts have affected the purchase of research supplies. “There is no funding, or funds that were already approved are arriving late, and they are paid in pesos that haven’t been adjusted for inflation,” she said. Furthermore, she stated that the closure of research avenues will have future repercussions: “If Argentina loses a line of research today—whether involving an animal to study a disease or a protein that could reveal mechanisms related to pathologies of medical interest—it represents a lost capacity for the country.”
Another example of this situation is the suspension of the Scientific and Technological Research Projects (PICT), which fall under the National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development, and Innovation (R&D Agency), which was restructured by the government in 2025. These funds, are crucial for CONICET teams, and the 2022 projects had already been evaluated and only the grants remained to be awarded, the 2023 proposals were not reviewed in time. Far from affecting only the scientific system, this situation also impacts the private sector. With the suspension of PICTs, the generation of knowledge and capabilities—which are typically transferred to technological developments, companies, or startups—is halted. This weakens local innovation, increases dependence on imported technologies, and creates a scenario in which private entities tend to impose agendas detrimental to long-term strategic scientific development.
The lack of funding has forced some universities to seek private funds, explained Leticia Medina. However, she added that this strategy excludes various types of research that are not of interest to the market. “It is highly questionable as a funding policy for the university and the public scientific system,” she said. While some areas manage to sustain themselves through private funding, that support is selective and depends on shareholders’ interests in profitability or immediate application, which overlooks strategic fields such as basic research or social and environmental studies.
A Nationwide Alarm
Unions representing CONICET workers and university faculty denounced the loss of purchasing power in their incomes, the freeze on access to tenured positions, and drastic budget cuts. The cuts have led to various protest actions, such as the Federal University Marches—simultaneous strikes across the country—open classes, and science fairs on public streets. These actions seek to defend not only the working conditions of staff, but also science as a public good and the university as a key instrument of social mobility.
“Over the past two years, we have carried out countless actions, mobilizing and raising awareness within the scientific and university community on the one hand, and bringing public attention to the situation at the societal level on the other,” said Leticia Medina. “What we are witnessing is not just a cut in salaries, but a policy of deliberate dismantling that is now manifesting itself, among other things, in the closure or dismantling of scientific research institutes,” she added.
The dismantling of the public scientific system also raises questions about access and inclusion. When researchers are pushed out, societies also lose the ability to generate independent knowledge. Scientific careers, which in Argentina have historically been accessible through open competitions and merit-based systems, are becoming increasingly restricted.
When researchers are pushed out, societies also lose the ability to generate independent knowledge.
Budget cuts also limit the academic community’s participation in knowledge production. In this way, the state forgoes strengthening key institutions for understanding, debating, and challenging the country’s direction by limiting the plurality of voices authorized to participate in defining the public interest. The result is a narrowing of the public sphere. Fewer actors can contribute to knowledge production, and fewer voices are recognized as legitimate.
The challenge lies in striking a balance between science and politics. A system in which expert knowledge dominates political decision-making can reduce complex social problems to technical issues. At the same time, a system that marginalizes scientific knowledge risks replacing informed debate with ideology or market imperatives. Democratic governance requires both: the capacity to produce rigorous knowledge and to make decisions regarding its implications.
When the state withdraws from the production of knowledge, democracy becomes more fragile. Without the capacity for collective thinking, the nation ceases to be seen as a shared endeavor and is reduced to the mere administration of the status quo. Reversing this trend requires a commitment to public institutions dedicated to science and technology and a commitment to engaging the scientific community and expanding their participation when shaping public policies in this area.
Camila Sapp holds a Ph.D. in History from the National University of Córdoba (UNC) and is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET)