Mexico threatens
suit over Gulf name
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her government wouldn’t rule out filing a civil lawsuit against Google if it maintains its stance of calling the stretch of sea between northeastern Mexico and the southeastern United States the “Gulf of America.”
The area, long named the Gulf of Mexico across the the world, has gained a geopolitical spotlight after President Donald Trump declared he would change the gulf’s name.
Sheinbaum, in her morning news conference, said the president’s decree is restricted to the “continental shelf of the United States” because Mexico still controls much of the gulf. “We have sovereignty over our continental shelf,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that despite the fact that her government sent a letter to Google saying the company was “wrong” and that “the entire Gulf of Mexico cannot be called the Gulf of America,” the company has insisted on maintaining the nomenclature.
It was not immediately clear where such a suit would be filed.
Google reported last month on its account on the social media platform X that it maintains a “longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”
As of Thursday, how the gulf appeared on Google Maps was dependent on the user’s location and other data. If the user is in the United States, the body of water appeared as “Gulf of America.” If the user was physically in Mexico, it would appear as the Gulf of Mexico. In many other countries across the world it appears as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”
Sheinbaum has repeatedly defended the name Gulf of Mexico, saying its use dates to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations.
She has also mentioned that according to the constitution of Apatzingán, the antecedent to Mexico’s first constitution, the North American territory was previously identified as “Mexican America.” Sheinbaum has used the example to poke fun at Trump and underscore the international implications of changing the gulf’s name.
In that sense, Sheinbaum said Thursday that the Mexican government would ask Google to make “Mexican America” pop up on the map when searched.
President Claudia Sheinbaum waves as she arrives for a Housing for Wellbeing event, a government-funded home improvement program, in Mexico City, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
This image from Google Maps viewed from a browser in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, shows the Gulf of Mexico renamed the “Gulf of America.” (Google via AP)
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Publish date : 2025-02-14 20:04:00
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