Petition Against Milei’s Repression in Argentina: Standing in Solidarity with the Partido Obrero and Popular Activists
We urgently need your help to combat President Javier Milei’s government’s offensive against the Argentine people. Please contribute to our defense fund and spread awareness about the situation in Argentina.
The Milei administration’s policies are not only causing poverty and hunger but also criminalizing social protest. Every public demonstration, regardless of size, faces brutal repression and legal prosecution.
This crackdown is escalating into persecution of opponents, particularly targeting grassroots activists and the piquetero movement—organizations of unemployed and precarious workers in the poorest neighborhoods.
Dozens of activists face costly legal battles they can’t afford. Milei is exploiting this vulnerability, using state power and compliant media to instill fear and silence dissent.
From day one, government repression has been severe. A stark example is the charge of “sedition” and “terrorism” against protesters opposing the “Bases Law,” which aims to hand the country over to big finance. Two activists remain in custody out of thirty-three arrested during protests that saw the government essentially declare a state of siege around Congress which lasted all night long.
The Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (Legal and Social Studies Center) reports that in the last six months, 665 people were injured in protests in Buenos Aires alone. Eighty suffered arbitrary detentions in Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Rosario. During a single demonstration on December 20, 47 journalists were injured and over 700 public transport vehicles were seized. Criminal cases against left-wing leaders from this protest are still pending.
Amnesty International has highlighted the erosion of democratic freedoms in Argentina. In March, Mariela Belski, the executive director in Argentina, described a “leadership model of non-dialogue and permanent violence.” By July, the organization warned of attempts to intimidate journalists into self-censorship.
Raids on soup kitchens and community centers continue, expanding to Buenos Aires and Neuquén provinces—a blatant attempt to intimidate comrades and paralyze social action. These actions target headquarters of organizations like Polo Obrero, MTR Histórico, Barrios de Pie, MTD Aníbal Verón, CCC, and Libres del Sur.
There are dozens of comrades whose houses have been raided with severe police force, arrested, persecuted and prosecuted.
Workers’ movements face similar repression. General strikes are met with unprecedented security measures, and police have disrupted workers’ assemblies. Unions such as SUTNA (tire workers) and ATE (state workers) have seen their protests suppressed.
Even solidarity movements face persecution. Supporters of the Palestinian cause, including MP Vanina Biasi, have faced legal action and imprisonment for social media posts on X/Twitter. This is an attack on those who uphold their commitment to the oppressed peoples of the world.
The Polo Obrero organization is a primary target, with members risking imprisonment simply for community organizing. The judiciary, aligned with Milei, has summoned various individuals, from soup kitchen volunteers to prominent leaders like Eduardo ‘Chiquito’ Belliboni, Jeremías Cantero, and Isolda ‘Tango’ Dotti. Milei and other far-right leaders have repeatedly threatened Belliboni’s life.
Among the most serious, a raid on the Partido Obrero (Workers’ Party) headquarters led to an appeal to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, supported by all opposition blocks, warning of threats to democratic freedoms.
Milei is intensifying media hoaxes, cyber-attacks, and judicial maneuvers, mimicking European and American far-right tactics. His rhetoric scapegoats the most impoverished workers, the unemployed, and migrants for the crisis.
In reality, it’s the efforts of workers and their organizations that enable survival in the face of the government’s disregard for the social consequences of its austerity policies. Recent government corruption scandals involving food aid mismanagement have further exposed this disdain.
We must prevent the imprisonment of opposition activists who organize among the poorest. Otherwise, Milei will have free rein for further austerity measures and attacks on political freedoms and popular organizations.
You can make a difference. Please contribute to the defense fund for prosecuted opposition activists and spread this information widely. Your solidarity can help stop this dangerous path before it’s too late.
Please sign the petition here: