WHEN Cristina Fernández, Argentina's president, agreed in July to allow Chevron to help exploit the country's shale gas more efficiently she expected gratitude from her countrymen. What she got instead was protests. Mapuche Indians and environmentalists deplored the deal. Some nationalists, far from feeling their interests were best served by inviting in the double evil of an American oil company, went so far as to burn the Stars and Stripes. Since the same bunch have made a habit of setting the Union Jack alight, it is perhaps little wonder that Ms Fernández took advantage of Argentina’s term as temporary President of the UN Security Council to address their main grievance. At the meeting on August 6th, she unabashedly pressed Argentina's claim over the Falklands.

In the spirit of the open debate’s theme—co-operation with regional organisations—Ms Fernández invited many of her closest friends and allies. Beyond the council members and dozens of other delegates, 14 foreign ministers were in attendance, including twelve from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

Flanked by her foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, and ambassadors to America and the UN, Ms Fernández took a swipe at the five permanent members’ right to veto. She invoked a resolution passed in favour of Argentina’s call for bilateral discussions with Britain, one of the five, over the disputed islands, and suggested that “differing opinions” should weigh less than resolutions. She mentioned the Falklands in the same breath as such threats to “peace and security” as Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Amid discussions more immediately related to the meeting's offical theme, several ministries echoed Ms Fernández's concerns. On behalf of CELAC Cuba's foreign minister recognised “Argentina’s legitimate claim on the sovereignty” over the Falklands (and raised the issue of nuclear disarmament, a dig at Britain’s alleged missile-carrying vessels in the South Atlantic). Venezuela's bemoaned the islands’ “colonial situation”. And their Uruguayan opposite number promoted “a South Atlantic zone of peace”, denouncing what he termed the “illegitimate activities of oil exploitation” in waters near the Falklands.

Ms Fernández nodded approvingly, while Britain's harried ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, was forced to counter the barrage of accusations. Ms Fernández's backers did not appear to see the paradox in their praise for the principle of self-determination and the fact that all but three of the 1,517 valid votes cast by Falklanders in a March referendum were in favour of remaining part of Britain. The islanders, Mr Lyall Grant insisted, merely want to control their own future through wise resource management. A lot, he might have added, like the Argentines.