Francisco Javier Remes Sánchez was perplexed as he watched President Trump sign an executive decree last week The Gulf of Mexico At the Gulf of America as part of his commitment to honor “American quantity”.
“This man speaks a lot and we have no choice but to defend Mexico,” said Remes Sánchez, 52, who manages a fishing association of 15,000 members in the state of Tamaulipas in the Northeast of Mexico. He fished in the Gulf for 20 years and estimated that he spent 2,000 hours a year over his waters.
“It has changed the name of a cultural and natural heritage of Mexico since the 16th century, when the United States had not even been trained,” he added.
To be clear: Trump’s order Rename the largest Gulf in the world has changed the name only in the United States, where He has authoritynot internationally. He asked the interior secretary to delete all the mentions of the Gulf of Mexico in the government’s official geographic database and to ensure that “all federal references”, including cards, contracts and other documents , reflected the new name.
Friday, the interior department announcement THE to change.
But again, through Mexico and Cuba, the other countries with maritime limits In the Gulf, Mr. Trump’s decision encountered a combination of perplexity, indignation, indifference and, sometimes, laughter.
“For us and for the whole world, it is always the Gulf of Mexico,” said President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, briefly When resolving the subject last week.
For some, renamed the Gulf reminded them of other global disagreements on place names. For example, the body of water south of Iran a source of tensionWith Iran, like a large part of the world, calling it the Persian Gulf, while Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states prefer the Persian Gulf.
The Rio Grande, the river along the southern edge of Texas which serves as a national border between the United States and Mexico, is thus called on the north side. But in Mexico, he is known as the Río Bravo.
The Gulf has had many names, from the Gulf of Florida to the Gulf of Corties, but there is evidence of the name of the Gulf of Mexico sticky in 1552, used on paper by a Spanish historian, said Samuel Truet, professor at the University of New Mexico that specializes in American and Mexican history.
Even if the name came almost 300 years before the foundation of the country of Mexico, its origins come from the Aztecs, which built a city on which Mexico was then erected. He noted that if people in the United States generally use “America” to signify their country, the term prior to the nation and originally meant something much wider. For many Latin Americans, this is always the case.
“It is this American vanity to take something that has been applied to the hemisphere, really, and to claim it only for one nation,” he said.
When Mr. Trump suggested that he would change the name of the Gulf earlier this month, Ms. Sheinbaum showed a world card From 1607, which qualified North America in Mexican America and identified the Gulf of Mexico as such – 169 years before the United States Foundation.
“Why don’t we call it Mexican America?” It sounds pretty, right? She joked then.
Since Trump signed the order, some other Mexican officials defended the name of the Gulf.
Rocío Nahle, the Governor of the State of Veracruz, who has more than 450 miles from the Gulf Coast, wrote in the morning after signature: “For 500 years, he is and will continue to be our rich and large” Gulf of Mexico “. A decree is reality !! »»
Even the country’s national tourism ministry has struck, saying in An article on social networks Promote visits to the body of the water: “Long live the Gulf of Mexico! The beauty of our Mexico is wonderful, before the eyes of the world and as it has been called since 1607 on global cards. »»
(Until now, the Cuban government has said nothing on the subject.)
In Tampico, a port city of the state of Tamaulipas, José Antonio Zapata Hinojosa, 45, professor of economics and political science, as well as a local amateur historian, said that people were not affected by Trump’s decision. He said he imagined everyone – even tourists – will continue to say the Gulf of Mexico.
“It’s like when they change the name of a street or a stadium, the original name still remains,” he said.
In Cuba, Edel Pérez, 54, runs a hotel with his family in Santa Lucía, a city in the northwest of the island, of which he can see the Gulf. He said he was fishing for the grouper, the living and more in these waters all his life.
“I don’t understand how a person on a whim wants to change the name,” he said. “Our part will continue to be the Gulf of Mexico.”
Mr. Pérez said he was amazed when he learned the news for the first time, but admitted that the Cubans that he knew would probably raise his shoulders. “People here are not worried about this kind of thing.”
He said he was curious, however, that Mr. Trump, seeking to glorify the United States, chose the name “America” because “we are all Americans”.
Curiously, the most popular and successful Mexican football team is called Club America, which has become fodder for Same on social networks in Mexico.
Practically, however, the name of the Gulf does not matter, said Captain Paul Foran, a maritime consultant based in Florida who, as a ship captain, sailed through the Gulf of Mexico.
Although this may be a lot of work to change all the American government’s documents and programs, said Captain Foran, the sailors only care to use the right navigation tables and transmit appropriate contact details and speed to nearby ships on the radio.
“The guy at the other end of listening to me said me” Gulf of America “, he will look at his painting and he does not care about his call,” he said. “Everything that cares about is: ‘OK, I see this guy, I know where I am. I am in the Gulf of Mexico and he calls it the Gulf of America. Who cares? Don’t meet me. »»
The name of the Gulf could change again in four years when Mr. Trump’s mandate is finished, said Truett, professor of history at the New Mexico.
But if Mr. Trump’s “America First” logic should be applied elsewhere in the United States, wouldn’t the state of new-mexical also be vulnerable to a name change?
No, Mr. Truett said that laughing, he was not afraid that the name of his condition would have passed to “New America” anytime soon.
