Since his arrival in 2021, Arriaga had weathered a wave of criticism and lawsuits targeting the textbooks created to educate Mexico’s children and young people. What ultimately led to his dismissal, however, was a request from President Claudia Sheinbaum’s office to include the role of women in history. Arriaga told this newspaper that he “accepts responsibility,” but refused to make the changes because, he said, they did not come from the president herself but from “the sewers” of the Public Education Secretariat.

Good riddance.