Nationalizing YPF worth nothing if the people do not take to the streets, if there are no more than 150,000 citizens telling Cristina that they will approve “each event or measure by the government as a fact that could never disappear in Argentina,” Buenos Aires legislator Jose Ottavis said.

The organized society is the great fear of hegemonic powers that want to return, they are not bothered by a government’s decision, but by the people’s support for each event or measure, Ottavis stated at a news conference on Thursday.

The rally, to be held on the occasion of the ninth anniversary of Nestor Kirchner’s election as president, will reflect “society’s absolute and mass adherence to the government,” noted Jorge Aragon, president of the Martin Fierro National Trend.

In remarks to Telam news agency, the head of the bloc of deputies from the Front for Victory, Agustin Rossi, pointed out that this will be the first mass demonstration in the president’s second term.

Rossi also said that the rally will be held amid two sessions of Congress, between the approval by the Senate of the expropriation of YPF and before legislators analyze it. “So we think it will be a strong support for the decision” presented by Cristina Fernandez to regain the country’s energy sovereignty.

Already approved by the Senate of the Nation, the draft bill will be discussed today by the Committees on Energy, Budget and Constitutional Affairs of the Lower House, and it is expected to be published next week.

The Executive’s initiative declares as public interest and a priority of the State the country’s self-sufficiency in hydrocarbons, and expropriates 51 percent of YPF shares in the hands of the Spanish firm Repsol.

The same occurs to the exploitation, industrialization, commercialization and exploration of those resources, to guarantee economic development with social equity in the country, Anibal Fernandez, a senator from the governing Front for Victory, stated.

Fernandez was one of the speakers at the long session of the Senate, which concluded early on Thursday with the approval by a majority (63 votes in favor, three against and four abstentions) of the bill sent by the president on Monday.

The distribution among the provinces of 49 percent of the shares to be expropriated from Repsol, the need to promote a new Hydrocarbon Law, and the establishment of a new regulatory framework for energy activity were

also debated.

The first meeting to advance in this issue begins today, De Vido said last week during a news conference at the end of a gathering with officials from Petrobas and the Brazilian Ministry of Energy.

De Vido had already reached an agreement with Total on Thursday, to increase in two million cubic meters daily the gas production in Aguada Pichana and Aguada San Roque oil fields, located in the Patagonian province of Neuquen.

The two reserves belong to YPF, Pan American Energy (PAE), and Total, although their operations are in the hand of the latter.

According to reports here, Total vice president for the Americas, Ladilas Paszkiewicks, said in Rio de Janeiro that the company follows with attention the situation emerged in Argentina as a result of the decision to expropriate 51 percent of YPF shares in the hands of Repsol.

As well as the 51 percent of Repsol shares in YPF, the Argentinian government expanded the expropriation to Repsol YPF Gas, which “according to a decree from the Executive Power, “it is not technically a company controlled by YPF S.A.”