Category — Media Coverage

At AmigoLatino we are constantly been asked by the majority of our mainly Hispanic customer base, who we think will be the best presidential candidate for the Hispanic population in the US. And although we think we have a good idea, it is still not clear if they will really be willing to “walk the talk” if given the opportunity. Therefore we are still evaluating what the candidates have to say about such an important topic.

Just right now, we heard from our good friend Juan Guillermo Tornoe, from Hispanic Trending, who just had the opportunity to interview Senator Barack Obama about his perspective on Hispanics in general:

Interview by Juan Guillermo Tornoe

A few days ago I had the privilege to receive Senator Obama’s answer to questions specifically regarding Latinos, their values, their culture, their importance to his candidacy. A very special thank you to all of you who made it possible.
Hispanic Trending: What similarities do you see between “Traditional” American Values and Hispanic Values?

Sen. Barack Obama: The challenges that Hispanics and all Americans face have been constant over the last twenty years – health, education, and economic insecurity. We need new leadership in Washington that understands the challenges working people and minorities face in this country.

I think most Americans share the same values, hopes, and aspirations, and the same struggles. Dr. King repeated often that our separate struggles – that of Latinos and African Americans – are really one. He would say that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. It means that the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t just a movement of African-Americans, but Latino Americans, and white Americans, and every American who believes that equality and opportunity are not just words to be said but promises to be kept. (to read more follow the link to Hispanic Trending)

Reportaje de AmigoLatino en Telemundo:

Una tecnologia que esta uniendo a miles de familias por el mundo, vea como fue esa experiencia para una familia guatemalteca.

Ya sentados en las oficinas de AmigoLatino hasta un segundo era mucho esperar, y es que esta pareja guatemalteca estaba ansiosa de ver a sus cuatro hijas. Ellos dejaron Guatemala hace 7 meses y hoy por primera vez estan viendo a travez de esta pantalla no solo a sus hijas, sino a otros familiares que dejaron atras….

Reportaje de AmigoLatino en Univision

Y es una conección de amor de larga distancia esta vez desde Los Angeles hacia Guatemala, por un abrazo de mamá. Ustede no puede perderse estos emotivos reencuentros…

Mientras hay tantas personas, tantos niños, tantas madres, que no harian por darle un abrazo a su mamá? Pues sabe que ahora la distancia no es un problema porque aunque no podamos palpar ni siquiera la temperatura de nuestros seres queridos, por lo menos si podemos ver sus rostros y oirlos directamente, por lo menos para las familias Guatemaltecas de Los Angeles que gracias a la tecnología, pudieron despertar emociones intensas en una sala de video conferencias…(vea el video con la historia completa)

Elliot Gold’s
For over 25 years the authoritative source for teleconferencing news and analysis

TeleSpan’s Prediction #10:

AmigoLatino becomes dominant video carrier to Latin America by ’09.

Some of you are saying “AmigoWho?” Well, let me fill you in. AmigoLatino is the brainchild of Gabriel Biguria, who immigrated to the US over a decade ago, got his bachelor ’s degree, capped off by an MBA, and ended up at Compaq/HP in charge of sales of the Presario home computer for Latin America. While others at HP floundered around the Presario, Gabriel saw that the way to make a profit was to more closely manage inventory. Most of us know now that the shelf life of PCs is short, and therefore if you make too many of any particular model, and they get passed by faster PCs, the slower PCs die in inventory of writedown disease.

One day, Gabriel began thinking of home…actually, I’m sure he did that every day, every hour.

He felt that if he missed his relatives and friends in Latin America, so did hundreds, thousands, actually millions of others, who now lived in the United States, either legally or illegally. That’s when he came up with the idea of AmigoLatino, a videoconferencing service that now allows Latin Americans living in the United States to see (more accurately, visit with) relatives living in Latin America, using videoconferencing. He came up with the business plan for the service, but more importantly, I think he really came up with the network solution. Today, he has a thriving service that offers 30-minute videoconferences for $40, delivers cheers and tears among distant relatives, and delivers a profit to his company. TeleSpan, and its readers, gave AmigoLatino 3rd place in our Wild and Unexpected Teleconferencing contest last year. It’s that good.

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AmigoLatino video conferencing services allow Hispanic immigrants to see loved ones, some for the first time in years…(watch the video for full story)

from www.reuters.com

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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