Alejandro Toledo- from child labor to president

When he was elected president of Peru in 2001, Alejandro Toledo became the first person of mixed Latino and Indian blood in 500 years to serve as the country’s political leader. Toledo started life so poor that he sold cigarettes and shined shoes on the streets to support his family and pay for his education. Today, he has made reducing poverty and inequality his fight. Toledo in an interview:

"Child labor is something I fought against strongly when I was negotiating the free trade agreement between Peru and the United States. I [suggested] that we make a commitment [on the part of] both countries: one, to meet some labor standards established by the International Labor Organization; two, to meet some environmental standards that we now recognize; and three, to prevent child labor from going into exports. We need to reduce and eliminate child labor [through investments in human capital]—nutrition, health, education—and it should go both ways, Peru and the United States."