The Japan Times - 'Mini-dictatorship': Students slam Argentina-run residence in Paris

Paris city officials have demanded the foreign ministry investigate Argentina House, one of dozens of homes run by foreign nations or French institutions on an international campus in the French capital.

The Cite Universitaire campus, or Cite U, was set up after World War I as lodgings for youth to form lasting connections with their peers across the globe.

But campus sources and former house residents, most speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal, say that the one run by Argentina has gone awry since a Milei appointee, fervent Catholic lawyer Santiago Muzio, became its director in 2024.

"The house used to be a space for community, culture, and art. Today it's a space of fear, control, surveillance, cameras," said an Argentine who lived there during the last academic year.

Residents told AFP their access to common areas such as the lounge or the outdoor barbecue -- an epicentre for socialising in Argentine culture -- had been restricted.

They claimed constant fear drove them to speak in whispers inside the house, with its director frowning on topics such as LGBTQ rights and the forcibly disappeared during Argentina's 1976-83 military rule.

"It's a mini-dictatorship," said another student, who lived there during the same period.

- Far-right meetings -

As France's far right eyes its best chance yet to win power in presidential elections next year, various reports have emerged of far-right figures holding meetings in its rooms.

Two think tanks linked to the far-right in Poland and Hungary in November were in Argentina House to present a plan to dismantle much of the European Union, according to left-wing media outlet Basta!

In May, it hosted a meeting against euthanasia in Europe.

Neither the residence nor Argentina's ministry of human capital with authority over the site, responded to AFP's repeated requests for comment.

Blandine Sorbe, of the foundation that manages the Cite Universitaire, told AFP she was working to have the issue of the house's management "raised" at a diplomatic level before Milei visits Paris in late September.

The Paris city hall has requested French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's team conduct an investigation in a letter dated July 30 and seen by AFP.

Asked about the matter on Tuesday, Barrot responded: "We are currently in talks with the Argentine authorities and their representatives in Paris."

- LGBTQ posters torn down -

The Cite U hosts around 12,000 students, academics and artists of some 150 nationalities.

Argentina House has, since it opened in 1928, welcomed generations of learners from Argentina and other countries, including Argentine-French novelist Julio Cortazar.

These days, students pay between 620 and 1,210 euros a month ($720-1,400) to sleep in one of its 70 to 80 beds.

Life at the house, like all others across campus, is supposed to be ruled by the Cite U's "charter of values", which includes respect for human rights and privacy, and prohibits discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.

But, says house director representative Laurent Schneider, Muzio has refused to sign it.

He said he could not, "in good conscience," sign a document that recognises gender equality and non-discrimination based on sexual orientation, Schneider said.

A source familiar with the residence said the director had posters defending LGBTQ rights taken down.

- 'Political persecution' -

But the breaking point, campus sources told AFP, was when under Muzio, the residence in February removed a plaque "in homage to the 30,000 disappeared and victims of state terrorism (1974–1983)", saying it was for construction work. Milei's government says the figure is much lower.

Students responded by holding a commemoration in Germany House, and campus authorities put up a similar plaque across the street.

Argentine House then did not allow 13 students viewed as against the plaque's removal to remain in dorms during the summer holidays, one of them, an academic researcher called Salvador Calanni, told AFP.

He said it felt like "political persecution".

Sorbe said around 10 of those students were rehoused for July and August.

When it came to apply for the new academic year, Calanni said he was among 42 people Argentina House rejected in what he says was an opaque admission process.

Cite U encourages houses to take in foreign students to encourage mixing, but the director of another house said he could no longer recommend Argentina's halls.

"Imagine sending someone there and them stumbling into a far-right meeting," he said.

T.Shimizu--JT