Mexico’s Culture Secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, announced on 16 July that anthropologist Diego Prieto Hernández has stepped down as director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History after almost nine years at the helm. Prieto will head a newly created office within the ministry, the Unidad de Culturas Vivas, Patrimonio Inmaterial e Interculturalidad, which is intended to strengthen community engagement and safeguard the country’s intangible cultural heritage. Anthropologist Joel Omar Vázquez Herrera, described by the ministry as experienced in cultural-heritage protection and community work, will assume leadership of INAH. The reshuffle forms part of a broader reorganisation endorsed by President Claudia Sheinbaum that seeks to coordinate INAH, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature and the new unit in a “triangle” covering monumental, creative and living heritage. Prieto said the change would allow renewed focus on indigenous, Afro-Mexican and other local communities while giving INAH fresh direction after nearly a decade under his stewardship.