The elected President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, in Bogotá
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petrosaid his country was ready to repatriate 20 Colombians studying there Argentina. This decision came after the Argentine leader said he would impose a fee on foreigners studying at Argentine universities and having temporary residence. In his account on X (formerly Twitter), Petro said that Colombians are literally being deported Javier Milei. “We will host 20,000 Colombian students who received free training in Argentina. They are literally being driven out of this country; socalled “freedom” did not exist for them. We will ensure that they can continue their studies in Colombia without major obstacles and free of charge,” he wrote. In the text proposed by Milei, called the “Law of Foundations and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines” or “Bus Law”, the universities remain open to those who have permanent residence in the country, regardless of whether they are Argentines or foreigners are, free of charge. . However, anyone who does not meet the requirements is not entitled to this benefit.
Milei's project declares a state of emergency in Argentina until 2025 and can be extended for another two years. According to a report from the portal “La Nacion”The latest foreign student figures from 2021 show that there are 2.73 million students enrolled in higher education in the country. Foreign students make up 4.3% of the total, which is 117.8 thousand. The vast majority of them have Latin American nationality. The University of Buenos Aires disputes Milei's decision. According to Guillermo Durán from the Faculty of Exact Sciences, such a decision must be made by the university and not the government. In Argentina, the autonomy of universities is guaranteed by the constitution. Milei has not yet commented on Petro's position, but a deputy from Buenos Aieres, Agustín Romo, responded to the publication that the Colombian's speech was hypocritical and was seeking attention. “If you want to make things fair, you could offer free university education to hundreds of thousands of Argentines, like our country has offered Colombians for decades. Unfortunately there is no money left,” he said.