Family Reunion By Video Linkup

Esther J. Cepeda -

Magnolio Palacios hadn’t visited his family in Guatemala in more than two years.

And Palacios, his wife, daughter and nephew were happy, and a little nervous, to finally come face to face with their loved ones - - including a baby boy they’d never met.

But their jitters fell away when they stepped into a cozy video- conferencing room where, on the screen, their family waited to see them. The first words out of Palacios’ mouth?

“Mira-vengo puro Osos!”

He said, “Look, I came dressed in all Bears clothes,” just as he would had he been bursting into his mother-in-law’s house in their native city of Quetzaltenango .

Palacios, 52, watched as wife Gladys Figueroa, 44, daughter Helsy Palacios Figueroa, 26, and nephew Wilfredo Figueroa, 19, all Jefferson Park residents, tearfully chatted with Gladys’ mother, Virginia, two sisters, Erika and Magdali, 3-year-old Angeles and 1- year-old Luis Emilio about how good they looked, what the families were up to — and whether the Bears would win the Super Bowl.

The Palacios-Figueroas are among the estimated 10 to 15 families who go to Amigo Latino, 3655 W. Lawrence, every week to visit with family members at the firm’s offices in Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador and Colombia. These are visits often limited by money, immigration law and time constraints.

$40 GETS 30 MINUTES

Opened in 2002, Amigo Latino, the brainchild of Guatemalan-born Northwestern University grad Gabriel Biguria fuses video- conferencing technology with homey, easy-to-book family-friendly rooms. The stateside family pays $40 per half-hour session. The family in their native country need only show up on time.

Compared with the complex scheduling process (and hundreds of dollars per session) it takes to connect to foreign branches of FedEx/Kinko’s mainly corporate application video conferencing system, Amigo Latino fills a unique need for Chicago’s sizable Hispanic immigrant population.

“It’s OK to talk on the phone,” said Helsy Palacios, “but it’s not the same. They can tell you they’re doing well, but you can’t really tell until you see them with your own eyes.”

When it was time to say goodbye, after the blessings and good wishes for the Bears, came Magnolio Palacios’ last words: “See you soon.”

ecepeda@suntimes.com
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