BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has tried to dismiss the worsening budget crisis at public universities as politics as usual, a contest with his leftist political rivals who hold sway over liberal campuses.

It does not feel that way to many of the students at the elite University of Buenos Aires, where halls went dark, elevators froze and air conditioning stopped working in some buildings last week. Professors taught 200-person lectures without microphones or projectors because the public university — among the best in Latin America — couldn’t cover its electricity bill.

“This is an unthinkable crisis,” said Valeria Añón, a 50-year-old literature professor protesting Milei’s austerity measures in downtown Buenos Aires with thousands of others on Tuesday. “I feel so sad for my students and for myself.”