In reaction to President-elect Trump’s speculations about the Gulf of Mexico, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reportedly proposed a name change for North America on Wednesday.
Sheinbaum’s proposal was a response to Trump’s buzz about geopolitical rearrangement.
On Tuesday, President Trump held a press conference that covered a wide range of topics.
He spoke on his goals of expanding the territory of the United States to include Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. Additionally, he suggested calling the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
During her daily morning press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum stated that the body of water that is shared by Cuba, Mexico, and the United States is internationally recognized as the Gulf of Mexico.
She also mentioned that traditionally, North America was depicted on maps as Mexican America.
“I mean obviously ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ the name is recognized by the United Nations, an organism of the United Nations. But next, why don’t we call it ‘Mexican America’? It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” she said referencing a historical map showing mexico’s claims to vast swaths of American territory.
“Since 1607, the Constitution of Apatzingán was for Mexican America, so we’re going to call it ‘Mexican America,’ it sounds nice, doesn’t it? And Gulf of Mexico, well, since 1607 and it’s also recognized internationally.” she added.
The constitutional reference made by Sheinbaum was a reference to the first proposed founding document of the country when it declared its independence from Spain in the year 1810.
This constitution, which was never put into force and stipulated, among other things, that Catholicism be the official state religion, was never implemented.
Until a “exact demarcation” of the land that would eventually become Mexico was established, the Apatzingán Constitution of 1814 did make reference to the territory of the emerging nation as “América mexicana.”
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