Buenos Aires, Argentina – With flags, drums, and a common demand, hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday, October 6, in front of the Argentine Palace of Justice to repudiate the ruling issued by the Supreme Court that cleared the way for foreign capital to buy land without limits.
The protest brought together the Argentine Workers’ Central (CTA), former veterans of the Falklands/Malvinas War, political parties opposing the government of Javier Milei, human rights organizations, and self-organized individuals.
“The indiscriminate sale of parcels directly affects us because we are going to become tenants of our own land. The ruling allows the purchase of all our territory and with the people inside. So I hope they reverse it” Mara, a 30-year-old social worker and self-convened assistant to the protest, told Argentina Reports.
Among the requests of the participants, there was the annulment of the ruling issued by judges Carlos Rosenkrantz, Horacio Rosatti, and Ricardo Lorenzetti. Additionally, Hugo “Cachorro” Godoy, head of the Confederation of Workers of Argentina (CTA), assured at the massive gathering that a month of nationwide mobilizations would be inaugurated to demand national sovereignty and reject the government’s measures in this area.
“What the government is trying to do with this is to hand over our homeland as it was before 1810, because today they are destroying the indigenous peoples. They don’t care about the pain of society,” Jorge, a 70-year-old retiree and self-convoked attendee of the protest, told Argentina Reports.
Government spokesman, Adrian Ravier, rejected the protesters’ interpretation at a press conference. For Javier Milei’s administration, opening the land market does not mean that a part of the territory will cease to be Argentina’s.
Instead, they maintain that the measure seeks to boost rural production, not to eliminate or modify the border security regime. According to the spokesperson, the lands remain subject to Argentine laws and taxes.
How Argentina ended up putting its entire territory up for sale
The root of the conflict lies in Article 154 of Decree 70/2023 issued by the government of Javier Milei in December 2023, which repealed Law 26.737 that established a 15% limit on land purchases throughout the country by foreigners.
In January 2024, the Center of ex-Combatants of the Malvinas Islands La Plata (CECIM) – an NGO founded in 1982 by war veterans that promotes investigations into human rights violations committed during the war – filed a judicial appeal, and in March, the La Plata Court of Justice suspended the decree.
The executive branch appealed the measure, and the case was stalled in the Supreme Court for two years. In response, Milei government attempted to once again relax the free sale of land through other means in August 2026 under the ‘Law of Inviolability of Private Property’. However, he had to withdraw the proposal due to social pressure and legislative rejection.
A month later, on September 29, 2026, the Supreme Court unarchived the CECIM lawsuit and annulled it, repealing the Land Law and allowing unrestricted territory sales.
A country in a state of struggle against the measure of three judges
Now the focus shifts to Congress, as 122 legislators have requested a special session in the Lower House for October 15, with the intention of annulling the decree authorized by the magistrates and reinstating the Land Law.
Mass protests are planned to pressure lawmakers on the day of the vote.
“It is expected that the mobilization will be massive and exert pressure to achieve the number we need for the quorum,” Left Front congressman Nicolás del Caño told Argentina Reports.
Meanwhile, tension is building in Argentina. For Del Caño, “The government is engaging in demagoguery while handing everything over with the Glacier Law (which allows the exploitation of strategic resources in glaciers) and the Large Investment Incentive Regime (which promotes lower taxes for foreign companies to invest in strategic productive areas such as oil or mining).”
However, in an unexpected turn of events, the Supreme Court issued an interim injunction today, October 9, keeping the Land Law (No. 26.737) in effect. In any case, Decree 70/2023 will still be addressed on October 15.
Featured image description: Protesters holding signs featuring the faces of Argentine Supreme Court justices in front of the Buenos Aires Palace of Justice.
Featured image credit: Florencia Cabral
