RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico Hispanic activist who demanded the state’s largest university remove some Ethnic Studies classes is no longer a leader in the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights group.
The League of United Latin American Citizens New Mexico Director Fred Baca told The Associated Press that Ralph Arellanes was informed this week he won't be returning as the group's state executive director.
Baca says Arellanes then resigned. Arellanes drew anger among LULAC members nationally last week after writing a letter to the president of the University of New Mexico and urging the school to remove any classes that teach that Spanish conquistadors committed genocide against Indigenous populations.