Mr. ENRIQUE L. HERRERA
2002 Recipient
International Achievement Award
Mr. Enrique Herrera was founder and Secretary-Treasurer of Guate-Mex-U.S.A., an export company specializing in safety equipment. A fluids engineer with 18 years oil industry experience, Mr. 
Herrera was one of the early international tenants at Le Centre, from 1991 to 2009, and had a career
spanning several countries—Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico and Italy, among then—and several industries—cattle and horses; safety and health equipment, drilling fluids and trade consulting. He studied in Scotland; Denmark; Belgium; Switzerland; Australia; Brazil and Alberta, Canada. With expertise as well as extensive work experience in so many field and so many parts of the world, Mr. Herrera founded Guate-Mex-U.S.A. in 1994. The company specialized in export sales and rentals of safety equipment for the oil industry.
On September 26, 1996, Guatemala honored Mr. Herrera by appointing him Honorary Consul of
Guatemala in Acadiana, a position he held until 2011. His duties include assisting Guatemalan citizens in the Acadiana area as well as U.S. citizens wishing to travel or do business in Guatemala. Mr. Herrera has been instrumental in setting up cooperative programs for students sponsored by the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines coming to Lafayette to attend training courses in conjunction with the ULL Petroleum Engineering Department and private companies in the area.
In addition to his multiple business and consular duties, Mr. Herrera was always a willing volunteer with Le Centre International de Lafayette, making himself available to lead a trade mission to Mexico and Guatemala in 1991, as well as helping to welcome Spanish-speaking delegations from all over the world. He worked with the Acadiana Good Neighbor Council and assisted with hurricane relief for Mexico and Guatemala. Quique often recounted that a high point of his life was the day he became a United States citizen under the Statue of Liberty and sworn in by President Ronald Reagan, on July 4, 1996, the 200th . Enrique passed away on July 1, 2014; in recognition of a career of dedication and accomplishment in bringing trade to Lafayette, City-Parish President Joey Durel proclaimed October 24, 2014, to be Enrique Herrera Day in Lafayette. The image of Quique's proclamation follows: