Las interrogantes detrás de la designación del topónimo “Golfo de América” ¿Qué tiene un nombre?
El presente artículo busca dar respuesta a una serie de preguntas clave en torno a la denominación toponímica “Golfo de América”, derivada de una orden ejecutiva emitida por el presidente de los Estados Unidos de América en enero de 2025, con el fin de entender las implicaciones de esta nueva designación, así como su motivación política, su formulación jurídica, su posible alcance nacional e internacional y su posible impacto en los intereses nacionales de México.
Detalles del artículo
Uso de licencias Creative Commons (CC)
A partir del volumen 25, todos los textos publicados por el Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional sin excepción, se distribuyen amparados con la licencia CC BY-NC 4.0 Internacional, que permite a terceros utilizar lo publicado, siempre que mencionen la autoría del trabajo y la primera publicación en esta revista.
Del volumen I al XXIV de Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional la licencia utilizada era Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 4.0 Internacional
Derechos de autoras o autores
De acuerdo con la legislación vigente de derechos de autor el Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional reconoce y respeta el derecho moral de las autoras o autores, así como la titularidad del derecho patrimonial, el cual será transferido —de forma no exclusiva— al Anuario para permitir su difusión legal en acceso abierto.
Autoras o autores pueden realizar otros acuerdos contractuales independientes y adicionales para la distribución no exclusiva de la versión del artículo publicado en el Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional (por ejemplo, incluirlo en un repositorio institucional o darlo a conocer en otros medios en papel o electrónicos), siempre que se indique clara y explícitamente que el trabajo se publicó por primera vez en el Anuario.
Para todo lo anterior, deben remitir la carta de transmisión de derechos patrimoniales de la primera publicación, debidamente requisitada y firmada por las autoras o autores. Este formato debe ser remitido en PDF a través de la plataforma OJS.
Derechos de lectoras o lectores
Con base en los principios de acceso abierto las lectoras o lectores de la revista tienen derecho a la libre lectura, impresión y distribución de los contenidos del Anuario por cualquier medio, de manera inmediata a la publicación en línea de los contenidos. El único requisito para esto es que siempre se indique clara y explícitamente que el trabajo se publicó por primera vez en el Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional y se cite de manera correcta la fuente incluyendo el DOI correspondiente.
Consúltese https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0.
Citas
“33 CFR 2.22 -- Territorial sea”. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-33/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-2/subpart-B/section-2.22
“A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America”, The Inaugural Address, January 20, 2025. U.S. Capitol, Wahington, D.C. https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/the-inaugural-address/
Advisory Committee on Undersea Features. https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/undersea-features
Alaska State Legislature, “Thirty-Fourth Legislature” FIRST SESSION Juneau, House Journal, February 14, 2025. https://www.akleg.gov/pdf/34/J/H2025-02-14.PDF
“AP statement on Oval Office access”. https://www.ap.org/the-definitive-source/announcements/ap-statement-on-oval-office-access/
“AP style guidance on Gulf of Mexico, Mount McKinley”. https://www.ap.org/the-definitive-source/announcements/ap-style-guidance-on-gulf-of-mexico-mount-mckinley/
Austin, J.L. How to Do Things with Words, Oxford University Press, 1962.
B-6 Standardization of Undersea Feature Names Guidelines Proposal Form Terminology, Edition 4.2.0 – October 2019 English/French Version. https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/bathy/B-6_e4%202%200_2019_EF_clean_3Oct2019.pdf
“Call It «Gulf Of America», Not Gulf Of Mexico, Lawmaker Says In Bit Of Satire”. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/02/09/146643464/call-it-gulf-of-america-not-gulf-of-mexico-mississippi-lawmaker-says
“Informe de la Comisión a la Asamblea General sobre la labor realizada en su septuagésimo período de sesiones”, Anuario de la Comisión de Derecho Internacional, 2018. A/CN.4/SER.A/2018/Add.l (Part 2), 95-121. https://legal.un.org/ilc/publications/yearbooks/spanish/ilc_2018_v2_p2.pdf
Carta de las Naciones Unidas. https://www.un.org/es/about-us/un-charter/full-text
“Chapter XXI, Law of the sea”, 4, Convention on the Continental Shelf, Geneva, 29 April 1958. https://treaties.un.org/pages/viewdetails.aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg_no=xxi-4&chapter=21&clang=_en
“Chapter XXI, Law of the Sea”, 6, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, 10 December 1982. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXI-6&chapter=21&Temp=mtdsg3&clang=_en
“Copatrocinadores”. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/276/cosponsors
Council on Geographic Names Authorities. https://cogna50usa.org/
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), “Outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines: Submissions to the Commission: Submission by the Republic of Cuba”. https://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_cub_51_2009.htm
Esopo, Fábulas, Gredos, 1985. https://archive.org/details/esopo.-fabulas-g-1985
“Exchange of letters constituting an agreement on a modus vivendi relating to maritime boundary”. Havana, 27 April 1977. https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/CubaUnitedStatesExchangeOfLetters.pdf
Finlayson, L., “What To Do with Post-Truth”, Nordic Wittgenstein Review, Special Issue, 2019, pp. 63-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15845/nwr.v8i0.3502
“Foreign Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names”. https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/foreign-names
Fourcy, F. D. y Lorvelec, O., “A New Digital Map of Limits of Oceans and Seas Consistent with High-Resolution Global Shorelines”, Journal of Coastal Research, vol. 29, núm. 2, 2013, pp. 471-477. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00079.1
GEBCO Gazeteer Version 5.0.6. https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/undersea_feature_names/
General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean, “(GEBCO) Project – Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure for the Joint IHO-IOC GEBCO Guiding Committee (Adopted by the IOC on 4 July 2019 and the IHO on 5 June 2019)”. https://iho.int/uploads/user/Inter-Regional%20Coordination/GEBCO/GGC/MISC/GEBCOGC_TOR_E_2021.pdf
Geographic Names Information System. https://www.usgs.gov/tools/geographic-names-information-system-gnis
Geographic Names Server. https://geonames.nga.mil/geonames/GNSHome/welcome.html
Gidel, G., “The Continental Shelf”, University of Western Australia Annual Law Review, vol. 3, 1954, pp. 87-107.
“Gulf of America Day, 2025, February 9, 2025 by the President of the United States of America, A Proclamation”. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/gulf-of-america-day-2025/
“«Gulf of America» changes proposed for Florida’s laws, Sun Sentinel, February 11, 2025”. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/02/11/gulf-of-america-changes-proposed-throughout-floridas-laws/
“Gulf of America? It Was Stephen Colbert’s Idea First”. https://latenighter.com/news/gulf-of-america-was-stephen-colberts-idea-first/
“Gulf of America Fund”. https://x.com/StephenAtHome/status/15680959379?mx=2
“Gulf of Mexico / Gulf of America”, Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 de febrero de 2025. https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Mexico-Gulf-of-America
Hakluyt, R., “The Principal Navigations Voyages Traffiques and Discoveries of the English”. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=The+Principal+Navigations%2C+Voyages%2C+Traffiques+and+Discoveries+of+the+English&submit_search=Go%21
“House Bill No. 150. An Act to provide that for all official purposes within the State of Mississippi, the body of water that is located directly south of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson Counties shall be known as the «Gulf of America»”. https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2012/pdf/HB/0100-0199/HB0150IN.pdf
“H.R.276 – Gulf of America Act of 2025119th Congress (2025-2026) A Bill — To rename the Gulf of Mexico as the «Gulf of America»”. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/276
“H.R.276 - Gulf of America Act”. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/276/text
International Court of Justice, “Delimitation of the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area (Canada/United States of America) - Oral Proceedings”, Correspondence, vol. VII. https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/67/067-19840503-ORA-01-00-BI.pdf
International Court of Justice, Territorial and Maritime dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia), Judgment, 19 November 2012.
International Hydrographic Organization, Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3a. ed., 1953.
Jennings, K., Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2011.
Joint Commission on Toponymy of the International Cartographic Association and the International Geographical Union (ICA-IGU Joint Commission). https://toponymy.icaci.org/
Kohl, J.G., Älteste Geschichte der Entdeckung und Erforschung des Golfs von Mexico und der ihn umgebenden Küsten durch die Spanier von 1492 bis 1543, Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde, 1863.
Lauterpacht, H., “Sovereignty over Submarine Areas”, 27 British Yearbook of International Law 1950, pp. 376-433.
López de Gómara, F., Historia general de las Indias y todo lo acaescido en ellas dende que se ganaron hasta agora y La conquista de Mexico, y de la Nueva España, 1553.
“Maritime Boundary Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba”, 16 December 1977. https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/USA-CUB1977MB.PDF
“Mexico - in respect of the western polygon in the Gulf of Mexico”. https://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_mex.htm
“M.Z.N.72.2009.LOS. (Maritime Zone Notification)”. https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/mzn_s/mzn72.pdf
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). https://www.usa.gov/agencies/national-geospatial-intelligence-agency
OCS Lands Act History. https://www.boem.gov/oil-gas-energy/leasing/ocs-lands-act-history#:~:text=The%20Outer%20Continental%20Shelf%20Lands,which%20are%20under%20U.S.%20jurisdiction
Public Law. https://maint.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/80th-congress/session-1/c80s1ch330.pdf
Reagan, Ronald, “Proclamation 5928, Territorial Sea of the United States”, December 27, 1988. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-103/pdf/STATUTE-103-Pg2981.pdf
Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la Lengua Española. https://dle.rae.es/golfo
Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la Lengua Española. https://dle.rae.es/toponimia
RES, “To Maintain Denali as Official Name”. https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/34?Root=HJR%20%204
“Resolution adopted by the Economic and Social Council on 10 November 2017 [on the recommendation of the Eleventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (E/CONF.105/165)]”. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/documents/methods-of-work-UNGEGN-Decision-N1745085.pdf
“Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness”. Executive Order, January 20, 2025. Sec. 4 b. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/
Shakespeare, William, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, ed. Robert Adger Law, D.C., Heath, 1913.
“Submerged Lands Act”, 43 U.S.C., 2002. https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/BOEM/Oil_and_Gas_Energy_Program/Leasing/Outer_Continental_Shelf/Lands_Act_History/submerged.pdf
“SO 3423 - The Gulf of America”, February 7, 2025. https://www.doi.gov/document-library/secretary-order/so-3423-gulf-america
“SRE No. 0038”. https://www.isa.org.jm/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Mexico.pdf
The America Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=gulf
The International Council of Onomastic Sciences. https://icosweb.net/
Hakluyt, Richard The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, And Discoveries Of The English Nation Collected, F.R.H.S. Vol. XIII. America. Part II. https://archive.org/details/cihm_33129
“Treaty on maritime boundaries between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean)”, 4 May 1978 (entry into force: 13 November 1997; registration 37399; registration date: 12 April 2001) https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/MEX-USA1978MB.PDF
“Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States on the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf in the Western Gulf of Mexico beyond 200 Nautical Miles”, 9 June 2000 (entry into force: 17 January 2001; registration #: 37400; registration date: 12 April 2001) https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/USA-MEX2000CS.PDF
“Treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba on the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico beyond 200 Nautical Miles”, 18 January 2017. International Maritime Boundaries, in press. https://www.congress.gov/118/cdoc/tdoc1/CDOC-118tdoc1.pdf
“Treaty between the Government of the United Mexican States and the Government of the United States of America on the Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico”, 18 January 2017. International Maritime Boundaries, in press. https://www.congress.gov/118/cdoc/tdoc1/CDOC-118tdoc1.pdf; https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/426907/MD_Tratados_delimitaci_n_Golfo_de_M_xico.pdf
“Treaty to Resolve Pending Boundary Differences and Maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the International Boundary”, 23 November 1970 (entry into force: 18 April 1972; registration #: 11873; registration date: 17 July 1972) https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/mex-usa1970.pdf
Truman, Harry S., “Proclamation 2667—Policy of the United States with Respect to the Natural Resources of the Subsoil and Seabed of the Continental Shelf”, 10 Fed. Reg. 12,305 (1945). Codified as Executive Order 9633 of September 28, 1945. https://www.gc.noaa.gov/documents/gcil_proc_2667.pdf
UNGEGN, Manual para la normalización nacional de los nombres geográficos, Nueva York, 2007. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/seriesm/seriesm_88s.pdf
UNGEGN Publications. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/pubs/#publications
UNGEGN, “Toponymic guidelines for map and other editors, for international use”, 86 Working Paper, 2011. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/26th-gegn-docs/WP/WP86_Toponymic%20Guidelines%20-%20Content%20Template.doc.pdf
United Nations, Convention on the Continental Shelf, Geneva, 29 April 1958. https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20499/v499.pdf
United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names Mandate. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/mandate/
“United States and Panama, Panama Canal Treaty (with annex, agreed minute, related letter, and reservations and understandings made by the United States)”, Signed at Washington on 7 September 1977. https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201280/volume-1280-I-21086-English.pdf
“United States Geological Survey (USGS)”. https://www.usgs.gov/
United States Department of State, “The Outer Limits of the Extended Continental Shelf of the United States of America: Executive Summary”, Washington, 2023. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ECS_Executive_Summary.pdf
“U.S. Board on Geographic Names: Principles, Policies and Procedures”, December 2016, Version 2.3. https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/media/files/DNC_PPP.pdf
U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN). https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names
“What MAGA means to Americans”. https://theconversation.com/what-maga-means-to-americans-259241
Winsor, J., The Kohl Collection of Maps Relating to America. Bibliographic contributions, No. 19, Library of Harvard University, 1885.
Worthen, W.B., Shakespeare and the force of modern performance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511484087
