Analía Celis, a 34-year-old with intellectual disability and cerebral palsy, cannot walk, but sports therapy eased her taut muscles. She cannot work, but baking gave her a sense of independence. She struggles to speak, but painting with her peers helped her connect without words.
Now President Javier Milei of Argentina has taken his signature chain saw to these specialized therapy programs that for decades have represented a lifeline to Celis — and many more of the estimated 5 million Argentines with disabilities. In recent months, the government has frozen payments to organizations providing therapeutic and educational services to people with disabilities. Participants have been deprived of carefully designed routines, their advocates and families say, and elements of a social safety net once regarded as robust by regional standards have been dismantled.
“I never imagined we’d be at this point, selling our vehicles because we don’t have enough money to keep the lights on,” said Martín Lucero, the legal representative of Argentine nonprofit Andar that runs a day center for people with disabilities outside Buenos Aires. Andar has been so squeezed that it stopped running round-trip bus commutes to the center two months ago, stranding Celis and dozens of others across the sprawling Buenos Aires suburb of Moreno who depended on its free, customized transport to attend.
Since Milei took office in late 2023, his austerity agenda has made him an icon of the global conservative backlash against the liberal establishment. Much like its allies in the Trump administration, his government has portrayed the cuts to disability programs as part of a reform process aimed at eliminating fraud and waste in federal bureaucracy. A spokesperson for the president did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Argentina's disability care providers — including day centers like Andar but also residential programs, special education and job and skills training — operate on revenue received through billings of state-run insurance programs. The debts of these nonprofits has been mounting due to irregular government payments and reimbursement rates held below sky-high inflation. But things got worse six months ago, they say, when the flow of money stopped altogether. To reduce costs, they have increasingly slashed staff, delayed salaries, shrunk meals and shortened their hours. There is no official tally of how many therapeutic centers have been forced to close, but disability rights groups estimate up to 50 shut down this year, many in Argentina’s rural provinces.
There’s a simple fix, rights advocates say: implementing a law passed last year that declared an emergency for people with disabilities. It boosts benefits that have lost 30% of their value to inflation and guarantees funding for providers until at least December 2026. But Milei has stalled the law’s entry into force, arguing that its fiscal impact — roughly 0.35% of gross domestic product — would undermine his hard-won budget surplus, Argentina's first after decades of deficit. “Using noble causes, they pass laws that drive the nation into bankruptcy,” Milei said after vetoing the law last year. Congress overrode his veto. Court battles are ongoing.
