Mexico faces Google by name of the Gulf of Mexico and threatens demand

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, threatened Thursday to sue Google, part of the American Alphabet group, due to the change of name of the Gulf of Mexico on the maps that the company shows on its platforms.

«With whom we do have a dispute at this time is with Google (…) and if necessary, we are going to a civil demand,» said the president at her morning conference, after pointing out errors in the way the company has made the change name of this geographical area, after a recent decree of US President Donald Trump.

Sheinbaum explained that the president’s decree to change the name of the area to Gulf of America refers only to the part of the continental platform that belongs to the United States and where that country exercises sovereignty.

«If there were any attribution of the United States government, as is in the signed decree, it is only on its piece of continental platform,» added the president.

Sheinbaum reported that his government sent a letter to Google through the Mexican Foreign Ministry to explain that «they are wrong,» also indicating what the decree signed by Trump and international standards on the subject indicates.

The company, however, has maintained its position, said the president.

«If they continue to insist, we also (…), we are even thinking about a demand, because they are even appointing about the Mexican territory, which is our continental platform,» said Sheinbaum.

At the end of January, the president responded ironically to Trump suggesting calling the United States «Mexican America», based on seventeenth -century maps, when much of the current American western territory belonged to Mexico.

Sheinbaum also argued that while Google is a private company, it has become an international reference for the mapping it performs on the entire planet.

«What we are telling Google is: ‘Check the decree issued by the White House and signed by President Trump. You will see in that decree that it does not refer to the whole Gulf, but to the continental platform, ”Sheinbaum said.

Google has said that users of their MAPS application in the United States will see the name «Gulf of America», while Mexicans will see «Gulf of Mexico.» Users from the rest of the world will observe both names.

Apple also renamed the Gulf of Mexico as «Gulf of America» ​​for US users of their maps application to fulfill the Trump order.