Mexico sues Google for ignoring repeated requests on Google Maps not to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of the America for the US users, on Friday, the 9th of May, said President Claudia Sheinbaum, reports the BBC.
“The request has already been made,” Sheinbaum said at a morning press conference, without saying where or when it had been made.
The Republican-led House of Representatives voted on Thursday to officially rename the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of the America” for federal authorities, but it is unlikely to attract the Democratic support needed to pass it in the Senate. Even if it were supported, other countries would not be obliged to use the new name.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming the gulf on his first day in office in January, claiming it was “ours”.
HOWEVER, THE SHEINBAUM GOVERNMENT CLAIMS THAT TRUMP’S ORDER ONLY APPLIES TO THE CONTINENTAL SHELF OF THE UNITED STATES.
“We just want the order issued by the US government to be respected,” she said, claiming that the US has no authority to rename the entire gulf.
In January, Scheinbaum sent a letter to Google asking the company to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico for US users. The following month, she threatened legal action.
At the time, Google said it had made the change in line with a “long-standing practice” of updating names when they are changed by official governments. The company said the Gulf, which borders the US, Cuba and Mexico, will be visible to people in other countries using the app under the name: “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of the Americas)”.
On Wednesday, Trump indicated that he might recommend changing the name the US uses for another body of water.
During his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, he plans to announce that the US will from now on refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi responded by saying that he hoped the “absurd rumours” were “nothing more than a disinformation campaign” and that such a move would “raise the ire of all Iranians”.
The refusal of the AP news agency to start referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of the America led to months of conflict with the White House, which blocked the AP from certain press briefings.
In April, a federal judge ordered the White House to stop obstructing the agency’s work.