Hispanic Families Reunite Via Video Conferences

By Gabriela Segovia - El Periodico, Guatemala

“Sweetheart”, “I can not believe it,” “look how big you are.” These are just some of the expressions charged with emotion that take place every day at the offices of AmigoLatino, a company that connects people who reside in the United States with their families in Guatemala and throughout Latin America, through video conferencing technology.

The creator is Gabriel Biguria, who has worked for six years with a single purpose: to unite families. The service works as a private television channel through which people can talk and see each other live and in real-time. With offices throughout Latin America, this innovative company has so far benefited more than ten thousand families.

What motivated you to undertake this project?
– Having worked for a number of technology companies in San Francisco, California, I decided it was time to start my own company and address some of the biggest needs within the Hispanic market that no one was solving. While in San Francisco, I saw first-hand the number of migrant families who continue to arrive into the United States. They can call or send money back home, but many have not been able to return, and thus have not seen their loved ones. For us Latinos, the most precious thing we have is the family.

Why the idea of videoconferencing?
– I had used them in the past so I knew the technology, which was somewhat expensive and complex. So my goal became to create a service that would be easily accessible and that would help to all those families who have not seen each other in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, in a simple and economical way, with all the quality of corporate videoconferencing.

How has the acceptance been?
– I started with offices between San Francisco, California and Guatemala. We currently have 25 centers in the United States, more than 50 affiliate centers throughout Latin America, in countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia.
In Guatemala, we have grown significantly throughout the interior of the country thanks to the support from three companies: Quickphoto, Genesis Empresarial and Distelsa. We currently have 21 centers throughout the country.

How does the service work?
– Families just have to call us to make an appointment. They choose a day and time from Monday through Sunday. In the United States the families pay $ 40 for half an hour, and $ 80 an hour session. The family in Guatemala or in Latin America does not have to pay anything and they see each other in private rooms across giant television screens. They get the corporate quality experience, at a low price.