The proverbial chainsaw wielded by Javier Milei continues to chop away at state sectors viewed as contrary to the ultra-conservative government's ideology. On one hand, there's an increased budget for the Intelligence Secretariat; on the other, public entities focused on human rights are experiencing severe cuts, worker layoffs, and institutional degradation. Notably, Argentina's Human Rights Secretariat has been downgraded to a sub-secretariat. The National Memory Archive and the ESMA Memory Site Museum—located at the former Navy Mechanics School concentration camp—are losing their structural integrity and autonomy. Similarly, the National Genetic Data Bank, designed to assist in locating children appropriated during the dictatorship (1976-1983), faces a similar fate.

The renowned Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, still searching for around 300 grandchildren, have raised alarms that these actions are leading to the "emptying of memory and human rights policies," urging both Argentine and global communities to intervene: "We must halt the erosion of rights and the dismantling of the state before it's too late and nothing remains."

Since Milei's rise to power, his government has been systematically defunding and dismantling human rights institutions and policies established after the return to democracy, earning Argentina international recognition. President Milei and his team have questioned the widely recognized figure of 30,000 victims of the military regime—a cornerstone of human rights advocacy—and continue to draw parallels between state terrorism and guerrilla acts from the 1970s. Furthermore, they have criticized the judicial process that, since 1985, has resulted in the conviction of 1,233 perpetrators across 354 trials—with 14 more trials currently underway.

The administration's latest assault on the human rights sector was executed through a series of presidential decrees issued since May 21. The official justification remains consistent: reducing expenses and personnel. "Less bureaucracy, more services, greater accountability, and respect for Argentine resources," stated Federico Sturzenegger, Secretary of Deregulation and State Transformation.

The conversion of the Human Rights area into a sub-secretariat will involve, according to the Casa Rosada, "cutting 40% of the structure and 30% of the personnel," along with "saving 9 billion pesos annually [approximately 7.5 million dollars]."

The National Memory Archive and the ESMA Memory Site Museum—declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site—will cease being decentralized entities within the Human Rights portfolio, transitioning to the newly reformed International Center for the Promotion of Human Rights. The government claims to have dismissed over 400 employees within the sector, and with the impending changes, unions fear an additional 150 layoffs.

The Genetic Data Bank, established in 1987 and maintaining samples and data of families still searching for relatives appropriated as children, has been restructured under Milei's decree to become a non-autonomous entity within the Secretariat of Innovation, Science, and Technology, losing both administrative and operational independence similar to the Memory Archive and ESMA Museum.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo have expressed deep concern that Milei's decrees jeopardize the functional continuity and documentation preservation of affected entities. Their primary worry, as outlined in a statement, is that the lack of personnel and funding will significantly "slow down efforts crucial to locating grandchildren seized during state terrorism and investigations into human rights violations from that era."

HIJOS, a group representing descendants of the disappeared, has voiced a similar stance: "They aim to dismantle what we have consolidated over more than 40 years of democracy. They attack every fiber of state policies designed to promote and protect human rights, enabling us to remain the country of Never Again."

This Friday, human rights activists and government workers staged a protest against the new governmental push. They marched through locations where the clandestine ESMA center operated, carrying a banner proclaiming: "Human rights aren't diminished by decree."