The fiscal surplus touted by Javier Milei and Luis Caputo comes at an increasingly high cost: volunteer firefighters across the country are on the verge of collapse. The Executive Branch owes them funds that should have been transferred in 2025 and so far in 2026, totaling nearly 60 billion pesos. They are demanding payment in Congress and the provinces, but the Casa Rosada is not budging.
In recent hours, Peronist national deputy Marcelo Mango introduced a resolution project demanding that Milei immediately distribute the remaining funds from 2025. He was joined by legislators Adriana Serquis, Hugo Yasky, Jorge Araujo Hernández, Carlos Castagneto, Raúl Hadad, Claudia Palladino, and Cristian Andino, all from Unión por la Patria. Mango, from Río Negro, focused on his province: “In Río Negro and throughout Patagonia, the great distances, forest fires, climate emergencies, and territorial dispersion mean that, in many cases, firefighters are the first and only response to an emergency.”
According to official information obtained by the Peronist deputies from the Budget Directorate of the Subsecretariat of Administrative Management of the Ministry of Security, the remaining funds from fiscal year 2025 amount to nearly 60 billion pesos that have not yet been transferred to the National Firefighter System. Of that total, more than 40 billion pesos were incorporated by the government into a budget item classified as “non-executable,” preventing their distribution. The remaining balance is in administrative and budgetary limbo.
“We are not facing discretionary resources of the Executive Branch nor a cash box available to artificially improve the fiscal balance. These are funds provided for by Law 25.054 that are collected to support the operation of the National Volunteer Firefighter System. While stations need equipment, fuel, units, clothing, training, personal protective gear, communication systems, and resources to operate daily, the National Government is withholding funds that have already been collected,” Mango demanded.
In the Buenos Aires provincial legislature, Radical Priscila Minnaard demanded that the government of Axel Kicillof mediate with the administration of Javier Milei to regularize pending payments. As complaints pile up across the country, the Volunteer Firefighter stations in the province of Tucumán declared a state of alert. Within a week, they will reduce extraordinary services, and on Monday the 27th, they have scheduled a siren blast across the province with a mobilization to the Government House. “The Nation is not transferring the funds. It’s a lot of money, and we are not asking for extra money; it’s our money, belonging to volunteer firefighters, with a single fund,” said José Rinaldi, president of the Federation of Volunteer Firefighters of Tucumán.
In San Juan, a peaceful mobilization of firefighters at the Civic Center ended with repression by the San Juan Police, who attempted to arrest Sergio Cuello, president of the Federation of Volunteer Firefighters. The demands include health insurance, a lifetime economic recognition for those who complete 25 years of service, and funds for equipment, vehicle maintenance, and station infrastructure.
In El Calafate, a massive caravan of vehicles traveled through various points of the city, led by a fire engine from the Volunteer Firefighters. “We are fighting for a salary adjustment. It is a fair and genuine demand,” stated Firefighter scribe Jorge Alarcón.
In the south of Buenos Aires province, the Volunteer Firefighter station of the Marisol resort is experiencing a complex economic reality. Elsa Gobea, president of the institution for five years, warned that the station’s operability is at its limit and that they survive “on the edge of what is just” thanks to assistance from the municipality of Coronel Dorrego and the solidarity of a community of barely 200 permanent residents.
These are scenes replicated across the country: stations emptying while the State accumulates resources that should sustain them. A fiscal balance policy built on defunding those who are the first response to fire and emergency. How much longer?
para mi estos zurdos de mierda siempre llorando caputo esta salvando el pais y los bomberos? que se consigan un laburo de verdad no vivan del estado si quieren plata vendan choripanes viva la libertad carajo 💪🇦🇷
para mi esto es lo q pasa cuando gobiernan los amigos de los ricos milei y caputo le afanan la guita a los bomberos q nos salvan la vida mientras ellos se llenan los bolsillos verguenza nacional y los liberartarios festejando el superavit hay q prender fuego todo firma el zurdo furioso