Gulf of Mexico, American oil
President's word
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, shortly after Donald Trump's announcement of his intention to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America," recalled that the northern part of the continent was previously called Mexican America. During a press conference, she found documentary evidence of this.
The head of state showed maps from the 17th to mid-19th centuries, on which most of the territories of the modern United States and Mexico are designated as America Mexicana. In this regard, "it is obvious that the Gulf of Mexico is a name recognized by the UN."
“But why don’t we call the continent (that is, half of the territory of North America. – Ed.) Mexican America?” — Claudia Sheinbaum suggested boldly. She also pointed out that the first Mexican constitution, approved in 1814 in the city of Apatzingan de la Constitucion, declared “the independence of Mexican America.”
The US portion of the Gulf of Mexico was almost symbolic until the mid-19th century. But it grew in sync with the subsequent seizure of Mexico's vast northern regions.
Annexation, sir!
The American program, now known in the Mexican press as “Circumcision,” began in Mexico City’s Texas, where American citizens flocked in droves in the mid-1830s and early 1840s, following a decision by the U.S. administration.
Already in 1836, settlers, with the consent of the United States and with the help of American troops, declared a short-term "independence" of Texas. In 1845, simultaneously with the additional introduction of American troops, Texas was included in the United States, that is, it was effectively annexed.
Soon the US aggression continued and in 1848 in Guadalupoda Hidalgo a peace treaty was signed that was extremely detrimental to Mexico. For the US also gained other huge regions of Mexico: New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, 60-65% of the current territory of the states of Wyoming and Colorado.
Thus, the United States took away from Mexico almost 65% of its territory and up to a third of its water area in the Gulf of Mexico. After those events, the indicated regions with their part of the Gulf are marked as taken away on Mexican maps, but Mexico does not make any official claims.
Meanwhile, in October 2017, former presidential candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and lawyer William Hudman filed a lawsuit in the Mexican state court demanding that the 1848 land cession treaty be declared invalid. The reason for the lawsuit is known: the treaty was signed under the dictation of the United States.
The court accepted the appeal for consideration, although it has not yet been officially considered... In the Mexican media, it is noted on this matter that Mexico City may raise the issue of returning these territories also due to the growth of the Latin American population in California, Arizona, Texas and neighboring former Mexican regions.
This territory is called the water area.
As for the Gulf of Mexico, after the events of the mid-1840s, its water area was proportionally divided between the United States and Mexico – approximately 40% each. About 20% belongs to Cuba (previously, this was the water area of Spain, which possessed Cuba before the war with the United States in 1898).
In the mid-1960s and late 1970s, the United States disputed the northwestern Gulf of Mexico because of its supposedly large oil reserves, which were confirmed in the 1980s and later. But these claims were rejected in Mexico City, which was supported by Cuba.
By the way, after 1959, Havana repeatedly proposed negotiations between all three Gulf countries to clarify the maritime borders: Mexico City agreed, but Washington either ignored these proposals or rejected them.
In the same part of the Gulf in 2012-13, Mexican geological exploration discovered an oil field of almost 40 million barrels almost 145 km south of US territorial waters - the largest in the Mexican waters of this basin so far. A number of American companies planned to obtain these reserves in a concession, but the Mexicans rejected such a project.
The raw material background and aggressive protection of the interests of oil corporations with a residence permit in the USA in Trump's initiative to "Americanize" the Gulf of Mexico is quite obvious. The development of these resources is planned by the Mexican side for the mid-2020s.
It remains to be noted that the same part of the water area contains at least 13 billion in prospective reserves (in terms of a barrel of oil equivalent), located, again, 35-60 km from US territorial waters.
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