Felipe Calderon

As a schoolboy, Felipe Calderon told his teacher that he wanted to be the president of Mexico one day. In 2006, he achieved that goal, but it was in the midst of one of the nation's most turbulent political scandals. Calderon was born into a political family. His father was one of the founders of the National Action Party, or PAN. PAN struggled for years, as the young Calderon witnessed, to gain political momentum against the PRI, the party that dominated the political scene for decades. The highly controversial election of 2006 is just one part of the complex world of Mexican politics, on which Calderon is now trying to leave a positive imprint.