Mexico Waits for Google Response before Filing Lawsuit over Gulf Dispute

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said her government is awaiting a second response from Google over Mexico’s demand that the tech giant fully restore the Gulf of Mexico name on Google Maps before it files a lawsuit.

The Gulf currently appears in Google Maps as the “Gulf of America” when accessed from within the United States, while it appears as the “Gulf of Mexico” when accessed from Mexico. When accessed internationally, both names appear in the format: “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”, Al Jazeera reported.

“We will wait for Google’s response and if not, we will proceed to court,” Sheinbaum said at a news briefing on Monday, in which she shared a letter from Google addressed to her government saying its policy on the name will not change.

“Under no circumstance will Mexico accept the renaming of a geographic zone within its own territory and under its jurisdiction,” Mexican authorities also said in a statement.

Mexico argues that Google’s mapping policy violates its sovereignty as the US only has jurisdiction over about 46 percent of the gulf. Mexico controls some 49 percent of the gulf, while Cuba controls about 5 percent.