Former SEP Materials Educational Director Marx Arriaga signed 105 positions for teachers working on honorarios before leaving his office in Mexico City. After barricading himself for four days demanding formal dismissal notice, Arriaga celebrated the process and denied irregularity accusations. The new director is Nadia López García.
Marx Arriaga, who held the General Directorate of Educational Materials at the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) since 2021, received verbal notice of his dismissal last Friday. He chose to remain in his office in Mexico City until obtaining a formal document, which happened on Tuesday after four days of barricading.
On his last day, Arriaga signed positions for 105 teachers working on honorarios, a procedure that had been ongoing for months and only required his final signature to be regularized. "The most important thing is that the positions for the honorarios colleagues were signed; so the unit colleagues who could have been at risk of losing their jobs, well, their positions are now signed," he told the media.
He assured that his signature was valid, as the process did not start that day. After signing the dismissal document, Arriaga left the offices and announced his return to teaching in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. "This is the minimum that a worker should receive," he said.
SEP head Mario Delgado appointed Nadia López García as the new director on Monday. López García, a poet, teacher, and activist in educational rights, is married to judge Edgar Adrián Meza Mendoza of the Federal Judiciary.
Arriaga responded ironically to accusations of 'moches' or undue favors from workers: "If I was asking for mooches from the workers... then I should have accepted the embassy that Don Mario Delgado was giving me, right?". He categorically denied any request for benefits and emphasized that his management sought social justice. He indicated there are no formal accusations against him, though there is an investigation into former officials.
Arriaga attributed his departure to Delgado and mentioned his role in designing the new textbooks, barricading himself to prevent changes to a 'neoliberal' model.
