One time he (we'll call him Jose
) offered one of the white boys there a beer during the shift. and this kid took offense to it for some reason, and tried to go behind his back and tell the owners about it..
This all depends on if the owners are also Mexican, or if they're not. If they're also Mexican, it's cultural. If they're not Mexican, they'll only have Jose's back as long as there is no lawsuit involved; because they WILL throw him under the bus.
I say all that as preface to: you're not supposed to drink on the job. Offering someone a beer during a shift can be a trap, instead of friendly. Someone drinks on the job, and fukks up, then what happens?
Don't drink on the job. Not just because drinking lowers inhibitions too much. That's for normal jobs.
Maybe you work at an ex-con site, which would be different, because people give different fukks about shyt, though.

Nothing wrong with an ex-con shop, everybody needs to work who has the drive to work and a mark on one's record shouldn't preclude you from good employment. It's just I understand where the cac is coming from on this one. Better ways to handle it? Sure. But I understand, and even agree. I guess he should have just said 'No thank you.'
Is the cac the 'outsider' on the jobsite? I noticed no one had his back to even make it okay after the fact.