FACTBOX: Mexican President Calderon's war on drug gangs

(Reuters) - Following are some facts on Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his war on drug cartels:

* Calderon, 45, launched an army-led crackdown on drug gangs within days of taking power in December 2006, making a reduction of turf war killings a central goal of his presidency. A reserved man with a tough streak, Calderon has sent 25,000 troops and federal police to trouble spots across the country to man checkpoints, raid cartel safe houses and capture smugglers.

* One of the first regions Calderon sent the army to was Michoacan, the state where he was born and launched his career with the conservative National Action Party. Michoacan's sparsely inhabited mountains hide plantations of marijuana, poppies and laboratories that brew methamphetamine.

* Calderon has earmarked $7 billion to fund his three-year offensive on drug gangs and is waiting for the United States, the destination for most of the illegal drugs trafficked through Mexico, to deliver on a promised $1.4 billion aid package to fund surveillance equipment and training. U.S. lawmakers have agreed to ease human rights conditions they wanted to tie to the plan following objections from Mexico.

* Despite Calderon's campaign, more than 1,400 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico so far this year, an even faster pace than in 2007 when around 2,500 were murdered. Some 500 police have been killed over 18 months and a number of civilians. Human rights groups oppose having the army involved and want more federal police trained for the drug war.

* Calderon has asked Washington to work on cutting off the flow of illegal arms to Mexican drug gangs and has also urged Mexicans to take a stand against cartel violence, saying: "We have to come together to confront this evil. We Mexicans have to definitively and categorically say, 'That's enough!'"

* Calderon, who trained as a lawyer, won the 2006 election by a hair's breadth and his left-wing opponent led street protests claiming Calderon's victory was fraudulent. Some leftist lawmakers still refuse to recognize him as president.

* Despite strong leftist opposition in Congress, where he does not have a majority, Calderon has pushed through tax and pension laws and is now pushing a proposal to overhaul the struggling state-run oil sector and allow more private sector participation.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich and Catherine Bremer; Editing by Kieran Murray)