Category — Amigo Live

By Tim Gaynor

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gilma Gomez paces the floor, anxious to see her daughter open her birthday presents. A screen blinks to life, and there is Abi sitting on her father’s knee in Central America, more than 1,500 miles away.

In Los Angeles, Gomez blinks back tears and holds up a handwritten sign on a pink card saying “God bless you my princess!” In the Guatemalan highland city of Quetzaltenango, the child squirms with happiness and breaks into a grin.

This family is among a growing number of Hispanic immigrants in the United States staying in touch through video-conferencing technology developed for use in the corporate world.

Entrepreneurs from California to New Jersey are hooking up relatives using high-quality cameras and fast broadband links, helping them to maintain family ties at a cost of $40 for half an hour.

The service links offices placed near consulates or wire transfer agencies in Hispanic neighborhoods in the United States with an ever-expanding network of offices across Mexico, Central and South America.

“It’s a real joy because it allows me to see my children (and) share my daughter’s birthday,” Gomez told Reuters in the offices of one such business, called Amigo Latino.

FALLING COSTS, RISING SECURITY

Amigo Latino was founded in San Francisco five years ago by Guatemalan entrepreneur Gabriel Biguria, and now has half a dozen offices in the United States and links to six countries in Latin America and Spain.

Other firms offering the service include Order Express, which links Mexican immigrants in ten U.S. cities with 11 sites south of the border, and New Jersey-based Comunicaciones y Envios, which serves immigrants from Guatemala and Ecuador.

Growth is driven by strong demand among Latin American immigrants, some 15 million of whom live in the United States both legally and illegally, coupled with falling costs for broadband and videoconferencing technologies.

Biguria said another factor is increased security on the U.S-Mexico border, which makes it harder for undocumented immigrants to return home and visit with their families for special occasions.

“We get brides coming in their wedding dress to get the blessings of their fathers, and relatives coming to wish their loved ones well before a major operation … we live all kinds of incredible moments here,” he added.

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Amigo Live coverage by CBS News

For immigrants to the US the pain of separation for loved ones can be acute, especially at the holidays. But many have found a way to ease the pain, live reunions that are the next best thing to being there…..(watch the video for full story)

Coverage of AmigoLatino by Fox News

“For some, leaving home to live in the US means not seeing their families for years, but thanks to some modern technology a local company is offering families a way to meet again, Tricia Takasugi is here to tell us how the service is working”

“Well Jeff, first of all it costs forty dollars, and while that my sound a little pricey for a chat with your family, there are a lot of immigrant families here in Los Angeles that are now using a high tech videophone to reach out and touch someone; and they say the experience is priceless…..” (watch video for full story)

Coverage of AmigoLatino by CNN

“Families divided, separated for years at a time. A heavy price that many illegal immigrants choose to pay to be able to live in the U.S. Well know there is a way they can reunite with out risking capture at the border, CNN’s Corinne Winter has that. “You are about to see the magic of technology, how a television and teleconferencing system have become powerful links for some unlikely users……” (watch video for full story)

A company offers Latino immigrants videoconferences with the families they left back
home and may not have seen for years.

By Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer, LA Times

Mariano Gonzalez’s eldest daughter appears on the television screen from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, wearing a long woven skirt and a blouse embroidered with flowers.

In Los Angeles, Gonzalez looks confused. At first, he doesn’t recognize her.

Claudia was just 10 when he left home for el norte five years ago, searching for a way to support his growing family. She wipes tears from her face and tells her father she wants him to come home. She asks if he will be back to celebrate her quinceanera in June.

“Mamita, I’m not going to be able to be there,” Gonzalez says in Spanish as he puts his head in his hands. “But very soon I’ll be there with you all.”

“It’s OK, Papi,” Claudia responds quietly.

For the first time in five years, Gonzalez, 36, saw his family on a recent Sunday morning — via videoconference at the offices of AmigoLatino near downtown Los Angeles. The private company links immigrants with relatives throughout Latin America.

As illegally crossing into the United States becomes more risky — and more expensive — families are spending more time apart. So when they hear about AmigoLatino, many are eager to pay the agency’s $40 fee to spend half an hour visiting with their wives, husbands, children and parents, even if only through a TV screen.

“This is the closest thing to being there with them,” said Gabriel Biguria, who founded and runs the company. “They can smile with them. They can cry with them.”

Gonzalez’s wife had just given birth to their sixth child when he paid a coyote $5,000 to guide him on a monthlong journey to the United States. Friends already living in Los Angeles had told him that he could make 10 times more money than in Guatemala.

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Amigo Live, the affordable video conferencing service that helps connect families and communities face-to-face and in real-time, is now available in Puebla, Mexico. Thanks to a partnership with Ultravision, a leading Mexican company with a team of visionary executives, the families of Puebla can now connect via live video, with their loved ones in the United States.

“We have a strong commitment with our community, so we are very excited to be working with AmigoLatino to provide this valuable service to the thousands of families in Puebla that have relatives in the United States”, said Renato Ulloa, an executive with Ultravision who is in charge of managing the Amigo Live project.

It is now very easy for families and community members to access the service by scheduling an appointment. All they need to do is to call the local Ultravision office in Puebla at +52 (222) 242-3183 or visit the office at 2 Oriente No. 6, 5to Piso, Col. Centro, Puebla, Puebla.

For appointments in the United States, they can find the closest office offering the Amigo Live service by calling AmigoLatino at (213) 380-4761.

Amigo Live’s family reunions, story of the week
By Francisco Rendon

Nervousness and excitement were the feelings Norma Judith Perez was experiencing the day she was going to meet her boyfriend of 5 years, Aurelio Ixcot. But this time it was not one of the regular dates they used to go on in her native town of Quetzaltenango in Guatemala: the usual walk in the park in the afternoon or going to a party. After two years of being physically apart, Aurelio in Trenton New Jersey and Norma in Guatemala, and only keeping in touch via the telephone; today they were having a virtual date, face-to-face, thanks to the video conferencing services of AmigoLatino. During their highly emotional virtual conversation, both cried and laughed, and then at the end of their hour-long meeting, Aurelio took Norma by surprise by popping the big question, if she would agree to marry him? Although shocked, Norma took a couple of seconds to breath and then, to Aurelio’s relief, immediately cried out YES!!!!!!

Here are some of their comments about their experience connecting through Amigo Live, AmigoLatino’s affordable video conferencing service:

Q: How long was it been since you last saw each other?
A: It has been a little over 2 years that we have been apart, ever since I left Guatemala to come to the USA to work

Q: What did you to keep in touch during this time?
A: We talked over the phone on a weekly basis only (sometimes more)

Q: What were the emotions you were going through before your Amigo Live video conference today?
A: A lot of emotion including nervousness, excitement and happiness that I was going to finally see my girlfriend again

Q: Would you recommend the Amigo Live service to others?
Definitely!!!! It is worth every penny and it’s the best way to keep in touch with the ones you love the most. This service beats phone calls because I get to see her and talk to her at the same time. I will be returning every month now.

This meeting via Amigo Live took place between the Trenton, New Jersey office of Comunicaciones y Envios and AmigoLatino’s office in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. For more information visit us at www.amigolatino.com

Published in Connections by PUG (Polycom User Group) www.pug.com

Gabriel Biguria is the embodiment of the American Dream. A native Guatemalan, he immigrated to the United States to attend college, ultimately earning an MBA from Northwestern’s prestigious Kellogg University. He spent time in some of corporate America’s powerhouses and lent his talents to Sillicon Valley start-ups in the late 1990’s. As the dot-com era came to a close, Biguria was looking to start his own company, one that would combine his business experience and the latest in technology to address the needs of underserved segments of the population.

“Having grown up in Guatemala, I saw the sacrifices people had to make to come to the United States - it tears families apart,” says Biguria. “I needed to do something to help solve this problem, for Latinos family is the strongest bond there is, yet many family members are unable to physically see each other after five, 10, 15 years or more.

Biguria had experience with interactive video conferencing and decided it was the technology that it would take his concept from dream to reality. His first conference connected immigrants in San Francisco with their parents in Guatemala.

“What happened that day when those family members laid eyes on each other for the first time in five years was incredible. I knew I was on the right track”, recounts Biguria. And with that first conference AmigoLatino was born. The company offers video reunions, dubbed “Amigo Live”, for a low cost, and it now counts Chicago, Los Angeles, Rhode Island, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico among its locations. Biguria has partnered with others offering similar services to reach additional countries. Read More (PDF File)

A new videoconferencing business brings immigrants in Rhode Island face-to-face with loved ones in Latin America.

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer, The Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE — Otto Gonzales has not seen his parents or extended family in Guatemala for 16 years. But in a week or so, he expects to talk with them live, through a new videoconferencing service adapted for families from business use.

“If I can contain my tears,” Gonzales said through an interpreter on Friday, “then I will tell them a lot.”

Gonzales’ parents, seven brothers, and numerous nieces and nephews he barely remembers but is anxious to see will be visible and audible on a 60-inch screen at AmigoLatino, whose office opened Thursday at 754 Branch Ave.

Gabriel Biguria, 37, a Guatemalan native and chief executive officer of AmigoLatino, plans to tap Rhode Island’s rapidly expanding Hispanic population for his market base. That population includes Guatemalans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, Puerto Ricans, Peruvians, Salvadorans, Argentineans and others.

“This videoconferencing technology has been around for a while,” but primarily in corporate boardrooms, said Biguria. In fact, it was used at Hewlett-Packard and Proctor & Gamble, two companies where Biguria worked. He also worked for high-tech start-up companies in Silicon Valley. “Basically, we thought we could use it to do something good for families,” said Biguria. Recent technological advancements “finally make it accessible and affordable.” The service uses fiber-optic technology and high-speed Internet connections.

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Videoconference firms find market in Latin American immigrants

By Patricia Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle

Manuelito Juarez, a strong-minded boy of 5, wants burgers for dinner. But his brother Osberto lobbies for “the chicken place.” They bicker and balk until their father intervenes and tells them to arm-wrestle. The winner gets to choose.

It is the most ordinary of squabbles except for a few things: The boys are in Guatemala City, their father is in San Francisco, and they’re in the middle of a videoconference.

“People don’t believe it’s real,” said Gabriel Biguria, whose company, AmigoLatino, had arranged the session. “It’s like something out of a science fiction movie.”

Although videoconferencing has been around since the mid-’70s, mostly in corporate boardrooms, it’s a new medium for immigrants and those they left behind — especially in Latin America, where many families lack phones or computers. Businesses like Biguria’s also have surfaced recently in New Jersey, Florida and North Carolina.

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