AmericasOffshore

US, Mexico and Cuba on verge of deal to define offshore territorial limits that overlap in Gulf of Mexico

The US, Mexico and Cuba are on the verge of signing a deal to define the territorial water boundaries between the three nations in the Eastern Gap area of the Gulf of Mexico, according to Reuters.

Unnamed diplomatic officials say that the signing is imminent because the parties want to complete it before Friday’s inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

The area in question, known informally as the “Doughnut Hole”, is a potentially resource-rich patch in which the three parties’ claims presently coincide.

Under international law waters within 200 miles of a country’s shore are in its jurisdiction but in this case they all overlap, hence the need for a resolution. Tripartite talks on this issue had been held between the middle and end of 2016.

The urgency for completion before Friday arises from concerns that President-elect Trump will try to dial back some of the recent rapprochement between the US and Cuba.

That has been happening since President Barack Obama announced a new course in the previously tense relations between the two nations in December of 2014.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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