Cristina Fernández de Kirchner yesterday arrived in New York to participate in the 67^th United Nations General Assembly, where tomorrow she will give a speech and hold meetings with the General Secretary of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon and Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.

The President arrived in New York at 11am local time accompanied by Legal and Technical Secretary Carlos Zannini and Public Communications Secretary Alfredo Scioccimarro, and was met by Argentina’s ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüello. Shortly after arriving at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, President Fernández was approached by a ten-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago, who stated that she was keen to meet Argentina’s president because of her actions towards the “struggle for the rights of women and the most disadvantaged people.”

President Fernández’s visit to the United States has been described by official sources as “austere”, with fewer public appearances than normal. Scioccimarro confirmed that the President will give her speech to the United Nations tomorrow at 3.30pm local time after her Rwandan and Swiss counterparts. After her participation in the UN General Assembly, the president will take part in scheduled visits to Boston, where she will open a faculty for Argentine studies at the University of Georgetown and the University of Harvard.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s Foreign Secretary Héctor Timerman will carry out a string of meetings with representatives from Israel, Russia, Algeria, Pakistan, Holland, Portugal, Sierra Leone and Slovenia. He has come under fire recently from the Jewish community for agreeing to meetings with Iran’s Foreign Secretary during the visit. Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Palmor yesterday stated “any country that seeks to maintain bilateral contact with Iran must be aware of the danger they are approaching. Terrorist Iran is stronger than ever.”

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced yesterday that she will send a proposal to Congress today amending the current Work Injury Law that modifies the terms by which workers seek compensation for work-related injuries.

During the same appearance, the president also announced a decree that permits the establishment of not-for-profit workers’ compensation insurance collectives.

President Fernández explained that the reform is intended to increase competition in the workers’ compensation field. “There was a very important demand from the whole society because it was created to give greater competitiveness to the whole economy,” she said.

The measure establishes “opción excluyente”, which specifies that an employee seeking compensation must either choose a pre-established settlement indemnity issued by a private insurer (ART) or take legal action. Previously, victims could first collect from an ART and later pursue legal action as well if they felt entitled to greater compensation. In addition, civil courts, which generally offer lower settlement awards and longer arbitration times, will now handle workers’ compensation cases. Such cases were previously seen in labour court.

Furthermore, the proposal stipulates that employees now have a maximum of 15 days after sustaining an injury to submit a compensation claim.

The reform also raises the set rate of settlement compensation by 20% and establishes a schedule for future adjustments. The rate will be adjusted each semester according to the Ripte Index estimated by the Ministry of Labour. To compensate for increased compensation rates, the reform includes a cap on lawyers’ fees at 20%. Typical fees currently stand around 35-40%.

In the same appearance, President Fernández announced a decree allowing the establishment of not-for-profit work-related injury insurance providers by unions. She noted that they were intended to compete with ARTs.

ARTs currently collect compensation from 550,000 companies on behalf of 8.7 million employees. There are an estimated 550,000 accidents per year.

The ART Union described the reform as “a great step towards solving the problems afflicting the Labour Risks system.”

The president also reminded her audience that the Work Injury Prevention Law is still pending and predicted its resolution to be a challenge. “The longer and more complex debate will come later with the topic of accident prevention,” she concluded.

Today marks the 60^th anniversary of the death of Argentina’s iconic first lady, Evita Perón, who succumbed to cancer at the age of 33.

In honour of the occasion, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner unveiled a new $100 bill featuring the face of Evita on Wednesday night. In addition, she will begin a new public housing project in Evita’s honour. “She would have liked that,” Ms. Fernandez said of Evita.

“Evita now is a character accepted nationwide much more than 20 years ago. Many people who don’t think like Evita, admire her,” historian Felipe Pigna told The Associated Press.

A controversial character in her own time, her image has been exhaustively debated and perhaps jaded by her representation in the Andrew Llyod Weber musical, her memory in Argentine society is now more positive than ever.

“Even from parts of Argentine society you wouldn’t expect, I don’t know if they vindicate her, but they respect her,” said Mr. Pigna. “There has been a transformation in Argentine society.”

Both Néstor Kirchner (the former president and late husband of the current president) and President Fernández have always claimed to continue the legacy of the Peróns.

President Fernández said the initial printing will be commemorative, but went on to say that she would like all $100 notes to eventually carry Evita’s image, replacing that of Julio Argentino Roca, a 19th century president.

“After 200 years it’s the first time that a woman appears on a bill, and if you have to honour the gender, who better than the figure of Eva?” she asked.

“It’s not that Eva was a saint. It’s not that she didn’t make mistakes,” Ms. Fernandez said on Wednesday night. “What made her into an immortal character was, having been a humble woman from a small town, she made the decision to change things in favour of the people, at the cost of her own life.”

Speaking before Congress yesterday, Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina defended Argentina’s economic model, put in place by the late former president Nestor Kirchner and upheld by current President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Starting just after 5pm, Medina began his speech by congratulating members of the opposition for supporting the expropriation of YPF, despite “pressure from Clarín.”

Medina emphasised that the current model has “generated growth with social inclusion.” Listing figures of average growth, he added that over the last nine years growth has been at 7.75%, whereas that number stood at 1% during the 20 years before.

He also stated that 500,000 new jobs have been created in Argentina since the implementation of the new economic model.

Amid continued controversy over the national government’s increased controls of foreign currency exchange, the cabinet chief also defended the restrictions that have been placed on the US dollar.

Speaking of a process of “de-dollarization,” Medina stated that “there is a part of the Argentine population that has an obsessive compulsive mania of thinking in dollars.” He also questioned why a currency “used in Miami” should be used in Argentina when buying a house.

Finishing his speech at 6pm, Medina opened the floor to questions. Members of the opposition criticised Medina’s speech, citing underlying issues that could be complicated by the economic model.

Gerardo Morales, senator for the Radical Party block, criticised the Cabinet Chief for portraying everything as “wonderful and perfect.”

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will formally sign the law declaring the expropriation of 51% of YPF at 6 pm tonight at Casa Rosada.

After many long weeks of deliberation, the bill to nationalise YPF Oil has been passed in the Chamber of Deputies. The Bill gained almost unanimous support, with 207 in favour to only 32 votes against.

The nationalisation represents the latest in a string of such moves, which many suggest may scare away international investment in Argentina.

Repsol has requested US$ 9.3 billion for the shares but it is still unknown whether Argentina will meet this number.

The current breakdown of ownership now stands at 26.03% of shares owned by the federal government, 25.46% by the Group Petersen (owned by the Argentine Ezkenazi family), 24.99% by the oil-producing provinces and 6.43% by Repsol, and the remaining 17.09% listed on the stock exchange.

At the moment there is no suggestion as to who will be leading the company, as the bill states it will have professional management. There is speculation that Michael Galuccio, an engineer who now works for Schlumberger, but others point to oil expert Marcelo Guiscard.

The signing ceremony will be at 6 pm in the Women’s Hall of Casa Rosada. Governors, legislators, and businessmen will be in attendance.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is preparing to give a speech in front of thousands of her supporters at around 7pm this evening in the Vélez Sarsfield football stadium.

She will be accompanied by her cabinet, high profile supporters, and members of political groups such as the Evita Movement and ‘La Cámpora’.

The event is being used to celebrate the expropriation of YPF – which could be finalised next week – and to commemorate the ninth anniversary of Néstor Kirchner’s first round electoral victory in 2003.

The amount of people attending the event is still unknown although some say that the government is hoping as many as 150,000 people will come to see the president talk.

One notable absentee, however, will be Hugo Moyano, the leader of the CGT whose relationship with the president has deteriorated in recent months. Julio Piumato, Human Rights Secretary for the CGT, announced the news today.

“We weren’t invited,” Puimato said earlier today. “It surprises us from this government but it’s not the first time people have tried to divide the CGT“

“We can’t say this government is betraying the workers, but what we’re seeing is a change.”

Spain’s Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría announced today that they will be suspending their purchase of Argentine bio-fuel. The move comes after President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s decision to expropriate 51% of YPF.

The Spanish government’s decision represents a significant loss of investment for the Argentine oil companies. Last year, Spain spent US$990 million on Argentine bio-oil – 66.3% of all bio-fuel sold in 2011 – but Sáenz de Santamaría declared the country will be now be looking elsewhere in Europe.

The Spanish government, in their weekly cabinet meeting, also announced that they are to revoke the trade benefits given to Argentina. A resolution to suspend the beneficial trade tariffs on imports from Argentina to the EU was also approved by the European Parliament today.

In Argentina, the Planning Minister Julio De Vido invited Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras to invest in YPF. In what has been seen as a move to reassure the Latin America energy giant, who has large concessions in Argentina, of their loyalty and safety of their oil investments in the country.

Critics have suggested the decision to expropriate from Spain’s Repsol has made the task of finding future investors difficult. This is particularly disquieting for De Vido as he has expressed a desire to involve other international oil companies, such as Exxon, and Chevron and ConocoPhilips.

Governments across the globe have raised concerns over Argentina’s decision to expropriate. Although the IMF, whose annual meeting is tomorrow, has said that the issue is bilateral and not their concern.

Minister of the Economy, Hernán Lorenzino, today reiterated this, stating the issue was of national concern and “not on the agenda of multilateral organisations.”

Specifically referring to the IMF annual meeting, which will start in Washington tomorrow, he reassured that “there is no negative climate.”

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner met for 30 minutes with US President Barack Obama to discuss trade, the Falklands/Malvinas, and the state of bilateral relations between Argentina and the United States during last week’s Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia.

“It was a half-hour meeting, excellent, in which we talked of many things and reaffirmed that beyond our differences is the relationship between the two countries,” President Fernández said today following her announcement of the plan to expropriate oil company YPF.

Among the outstanding issues between Argentina and the US are differences in trade. Last month, the US dropped Argentina from its preferential trade network after Argentina failed to pay court-ordered damages in excess of $300 million to two US companies.

The complaint comes in the context of global criticism of Argentina’s cumbersome import scheme, which several countries raised at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

President Obama made clear that there were no specific trade demands on Argentina and that the discussions were for the public record.

On the issue of the Falklands/Malvinas, despite further appeals for support of Argentina’s cause, President Obama maintained US neutrality.

“Our position is that we will continue to be neutral,” Obama said. “We have good relations with Argentina and Britain and hope to be able to continue a dialogue on this subject, but it is not something we would usually intervene.”

Argentina’s foreign minister Héctor Timerman characterised the talks as productive, noting the desire among both countries to remain “good friends and partners.” Foreign Ambassador Jorge Argüello went further, describing the healthy working relationship between the countries despite challenges.

“The two presidents will work with the aim of optimising a relationship that, like all others, is good at times and no so good at other times, according to circumstances.”

Yesterday, Senator Aníbal Fernández presented a bill to Congress to decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal consumption.

In a press conference held by the Senate, the former minister and chief of staff to President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner stated that the aim is “not to be stigmatise or persecute those who consume, but go after the distributor.”

“The result of the War on Drugs proposed by Richard Nixon is a failure. The Arriola ruling marks the way forward. We therefore propose to decriminalise possession of small amount when it is for personal use and will not affect others. But, when the amount exceeds the personal consumption we will impose penalties equal to manslaughter,” said Fernández, as reported in Clarín.

The Arriola ruling referred by Fernández, decrees that the penalisation of possession of drugs for personal consumption infringes on personal privacy.

The new bill states that the cultivation of small amounts of marijuana for personal consumption would also be permitted.

The bill does not address what level of drugs will be permissible for personal consumption, an issue that will be decided by a judge according to the case. Some supporters have voiced reservations on this aspect of the proposition.

“It is correct not to define quantities. But a judge cannot decide if [the drugs] are for personal use or not, the police must investigate before they stigmatise the user,” said politician Victoria Donda, who supports the proposal.

This is a debate that has been addressed recently in Latin America. Guatemalan president, Otto Perez Molina, and Colombian lawmakers have made statements in the last week opening the debate on the legalisation of drugs. President Cristina Fernández Kirchner has in the past declared that she does not think addicts should be charged as criminals.

United States president Barack Obama announced today that his administration would temporarily suspend trade benefits with Argentina. It was a harsh punishment for what the president sees as the South American country not acting “in good faith” in accordance with fee agreements.

According to Reuters, Argentina failed to pay more than $300 million “in compensation awards in two disputes involving U.S. investors”.

In 60 days, Argentina will be suspended from the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences program, which “waives import duties on thousands of goods from developing countries”.

The two companies that will be affected by the measure are Houston-based Azurix Corp, and Blue Ridge Investment, a subsidiary of Bank of America. The two companies were to receive compensation for the Argentine government’s actions 10 years ago.

“We urge the Government of Argentina to pay the subject awards,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement. “This would allow us to consider reinstating Argentina’s GSP eligibility and promote the growth of a mutually beneficial U.S.-Argentina trade and investment relationship.”

According to various sources, the move is part of a grander scheme to pressure Argentina into paying off its various debts to the U.S. investors after an $81 billion default.

President Obama’s announcement comes one month prior to the Sixth Summit of the Americas, an event in which both he and Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner plan to attend.