When panista Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa was sworn in as president on 1 December 2006, the atmosphere was very different to that of his predecessor, Vicente Fox, six years earlier. Fox's sexenio – six-year presidential term – had commenced amid a climate of hope and positivity fostered by an end to the Partido Revolucionario Institucional's (PRI) / Institutional Revolutionary Party's seventy-one-year authoritarian rule. By contrast, Calderón's presidency was characterised by a tenor of uncertainty, suspicion and doubt from the beginning.

Before exploring the visual representation of politics and violence during the Calderón administration as well as the effects of its drug war on civil society, this chapter will provide an overview of the events that occurred just prior to and during Calderón's time in the presidential seat, as well as a general review of the national government's history of collusion with drug cartels. Examining the circumstances and factors leading to social unrest at the time of Calderón's presidency will give historical contextualisation to the production of the visual texts examined hereinafter.

Likewise, identifying the political landscape in which the artists’ works were created and exhibited/disseminated will help readers to appreciate the conditions that contributed to the public's rapid disillusionment with the new regime and the consequential escalation of drug war violence. When it comes to dissecting the instability of the present, the PAN years (2000–2012), and especially Calderón's time in office, hold socio-historical importance. Given the intersection of politics and culture, understanding the issues and concerns that permeated the social and political climate during Calderón's sexenio are an essential starting point for the discussion of the visual artistic works that attempted to respond to the socio-economic and historical concerns of this period.

In the sections below, I examine how Calderón came to power and the influences of the panista government that preceded his administration. This is followed by an exploration of the history of connivance between the State and drug-trafficking organisations that also contributed to the turbulent socio-political climate in the year 2006. Finally, my analyses turn specifically to focus on Calderón's presidential term and the legacy he produced, as outlined by Anabel Hernández (2012) in her book México en Llamas: el Legado de Calderón / Mexico in Flames: Calderón's Legacy.