Mexican Government Fires Education Department Head over Communist Agenda Hidden in Textbooks

A fresh political storm is brewing in Mexico after the abrupt dismissal of Marx Arriaga, the former director of textbook development at the Public Education Secretariat. The government removed the director from his post for refusing to implement government‑ordered revisions to the nation’s schoolbooks.

Rather than leave his post, Arriaga locked himself in his office in Mexico City last weekend and live-streamed a message explaining his position and challenge to his former superiors to remove him by force so he could then file charges of workplace violence. Since then, Arriaga, a self-described communist and social warrior, spent several days locked in his office. His replacement has been forced to work from an alternate office.

When asked about the issue this week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum claimed it began when she and her staff proposed certain revisions to the textbooks, and Arriaga refused.

Arriaga, who has a long history of activism, took over the textbook department under the administration of former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. At the time, Arriaga’s revisions to the country’s mandatory textbooks were met with widespread resistance from pundits who claimed he had rewritten the country’s history and turned the books into communist propaganda. Other pundits pointed to numerous historical and factual inaccuracies not only in history books but in various other topics.

After Arriaga’s initial refusal, additional pressure came from Sheinbuam and her staff, which was also met with Arriaga’s refusal. The Mexican president claimed that she and her staff considered offering Arriaga another position within the government, such as a consular office. However, he refused and challenged the government to fire him and remove him by force.