Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona has announced that the ministry will be suspending site maintenance payments to the ex-ESMA memory space, claiming they were spending too much on cutting the grass.

Human rights organizations warned that the suspended funds are used to pay 176 people’s salaries. 

“We cut another multi-million-peso human rights fund,” Cúneo Libarona wrote on X, claiming that use of the AR$3.4 billion fund [US$3.1 million at the official rate, US$2.5 million at the MEP rate] was not being monitored. “Just to cut the grass they were spending AR$16,000,000 a month. We decided to suspend all payments until they account for the money.”

President Javier Milei shared the post, repeating the claim about grass-cutting.

The ex-ESMA responded in a statement that the Directorate of Human Rights Organisms manages the site jointly with the national Human Rights Secretariat and Buenos Aires City Government, and representatives of all three have to sign off on funds.

“We hope the budget situation can return to normal swiftly, in order to guarantee staff salaries,” the statement read.

This suspension arrives amidst a backdrop of cuts to Argentina’s public human rights organizations. In January, around 2500 workers were laid off from the Justice Ministry. Four hundred of those were part of the Human Rights Secretariat. 

Also in January, the body closed the ex-ESMA’s Haroldo Conti Cultural Center due to “internal restructuring.” 

The government was also accused of censorship of the ex-ESMA site when a concert by trap artist Milo J was suspended hours before he was due to perform to 20,000 registered attendees. 

Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2023, the ex-ESMA memory space highlights the history of crimes against humanity committed during Argentina’s last dictatorship and commemorates the disappeared.