New Ma

As Jose Aceves stood on the U.S.

bank of the Rio Grande 27 years ago, his prospects looked dim indeed. He was a 14-year-old wetback from Guadalajara who had crossed the border illegally to earn money to help support his large and fatherless family in Mexico.

From California fruit picker, he shifted to boxing as a lightweight (130 lbs.) and won 17 of 19 bouts. Later he got a job as a helper in a tool and die shop in the Oakland area, went to night school to learn English, mathematics and mechanical drawing.

Within a year, he broke production records and was made foreman. In the late 1960s, with a loan from the Bank of America, he established the Aceco Tool Corp. in San Leandro. Sales in 1973 were $500,000.

Aceves, now 41 and as of this year a U.S. citizen, devotes nearly all his time to pressing Washington bureaucrats and private companies on behalf of the Spanish-speaking owners of 200 businesses who belong to the Latin American Manufacturers Association. Since Aceves founded LAMA 18 months ago as a militant means of nailing down more contract work, he has captured $8 million in business for members, mostly from non-Latin companies. His current goal is to secure a bigger chunk of the $5 billion Alaskan pipeline project for LAMA'S members. He also plans to expand LAMA by opening chapters in Spanish-speaking communities in New York City, Houston and Chicago.

All minorities, he says, should "become stronger members of the free enterprise system."

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