Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei said Tuesday his government would not renew contracts for more than 5,000 employees hired this year before his inauguration earlier this month. The mass firings follow a presidential decree by Milei last week that seeks to massively deregulate Argentine businesses, privatize state-run industries, slash workers’ wages, while massively cracking down on civil liberties, including the right to hold protests. On Wednesday, thousands defied the ban on protests to take to the streets of Buenos Aires. This is Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the progressive workers’ rights organization Polo Obrero.

Eduardo Belliboni: “There’s a violation of workers’ fundamental rights in Argentina. They are attacking our wages. People are being denied the right to protest brutal adjustments that will affect the poor. Workers are suffering wage cuts by a government that benefits the interests of the big business owners.”