Mexico sues Google over Gulf of Mexico’s name!
Mexico City, May 9 (EFE) –
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed Friday that her government formally sued Google for calling the Gulf of Mexico ‘Gulf of America’ on its maps in the United States, following an executive order by President Donald Trump.
“It (Google) has already been sued. There was already a first resolution,” Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference.
The president recalled that her government is looking for Google to rename the Gulf of Mexico only in the continental part that belongs to the United States, not the part that is part of Mexican territory.
“Because he does not have the attribution to name the entire Gulf, because that is an international attribution. So, what we’re saying is that Google should put the Gulf of America where the Gulf of America is, which is the part that corresponds to the territory of the United States, and the Gulf of Mexico to the territorial part that corresponds to Mexico and Cuba,” she pointed out.
“So what we’re saying to Google is, ‘ go with what the US government has approved. That’s the controversy we’re in,” she added.
Sheinbaum noted, however, that this is not an issue she has raised in her conversations with Trump.
So far, Google has not commented on the lawsuit or what action it will take in light of Sheinbaum’s preliminary ruling.
In late January, Sheinbaum sent a letter to the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, asking him to correct the area “erroneously” called “Gulf of America,” as the change should only apply to US territory, according to Trump’s January 20 executive order.
The controversy grew in early February when users in the US reported that Google and Apple Maps in the US were already showing the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” despite complaints from the Mexican government.
Days later, Google sent a letter to Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente, arguing that the change was consistent with an update to the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
De la Fuente responded in another letter, saying that “under no circumstances” would Mexico accept the renaming of a geographic area that includes part o f its national territory and is under its jurisdiction. EFE csr/mcd
