Oldest Latino Group in U.S. Has a New Visibility, National Leader Says : Politics: LULAC, now with a full-time office in Washington, plays a growing role in national legislation, especially regarding education, drugs and housing issues.

The League of United Latin American Citizens is the oldest Latino organization in the United States, but President Jose Velez said Saturday that many people are just learning about the influence and activities of the group.

For the first time in a decade, Velez said, LULAC has a full-time office in Washington. As a result, it is playing a heightened role in national legislation affecting the Latino community, especially regarding education, drugs and housing.

“People are now learning about LULAC,” said Velez, who visited Santa Ana on Saturday for the 37th annual convention of Orange County’s 10 LULAC groups. “Marketing is what it takes, and I am a marketing and advertising expert.”

Velez, a former California director of LULAC who was elected last year as president of the 115,000-member organization, lives in Las Vegas and runs his own ad and distribution company.

As evidence of LULAC’s increasing involvement in Washington, Velez said he met last year with former White House drug czar William Bennett to discuss crime problems in the Latino community. And he worked recently with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp to start a program that will target more Latino neighborhoods for federal housing money.

“We are politically sophisticated now,” said Velez, who is a Republican (LULAC is a nonpartisan organization that does not endorse candidates).

Velez said LULAC will also play a key role in helping to negotiate an anticipated free-trade agreement between the United States and Mexico. President Bush and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari are scheduled to discuss the plans for a trade agreement today in Houston. Velez said he is scheduled to meet with Salinas later this spring to discuss such an agreement.

The proposed trade accord is opposed by many U.S. labor leaders, who fear that it will reduce jobs in the United States as corporations seek cheaper labor in Mexico.

But such supporters as Velez say the agreement will improve wages and living conditions in Mexico, thereby reducing the number of illegal immigrants to the United States. President Bush also contends that free trade will create more jobs in the United States, rather than reduce U.S. jobs.

“We have to look at what’s best for both countries,” Velez said. “It has to be mutual.”

Santa Ana, with a population more than 60% Latino, is home to one of the strongest LULAC councils in the nation. It was the first LULAC council organized in California, 37 years ago (LULAC was founded in 1929). Velez said all but two of the LULAC state directors in California have come from Santa Ana.

Zeke Hernandez, current president of the LULAC council in Santa Ana and a candidate for state director in next month’s election, said a large part of the group’s local effort has been aimed at helping Latino youth.

“We focus in on the youth,” Hernandez said Saturday at the one-day convention. “Our organization is not going to be permanent if we don’t get the youth involved.”

Hernandez said the Santa Ana chapter of LULAC gave $5,600 for scholarships to Latino youth last year. And it has begun a program to pay Latino college students to counsel their counterparts in high school.