The son of Carlos Alberto Salinas de Gortari and a former banker who played a leading role in Mexico's economic reforms, Mr. Calderón ran the country from December 2006 to August 2007, becoming the youngest president since the Mexican Revolution. When he took office, Mexico was suffering from a terrible recession and saddled with an enormous debt that it had accumulated in the era of Mr. Salinas's predecessor, Vicente Fox.Before Mr. Calderón, who took office in 2006, Mexico had spent most of the 21st century locked in a vicious battle with the drug cartels that roamed its territory, killing and dumping their