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

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, April 16, 2006

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

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.

Biguria added, "We didn't know what the first families' reactions would be. But as soon as they were connected, they started crying. And we were crying beside them."

Biguria opened his first videoconferencing office in San Francisco in 2003, in a building that houses eight Latin American consulates. He advertised in Spanish-language newspapers and also relied on fliers and word of mouth.

Initial success prompted him to open offices in Chicago and Los Angeles. On his own or through affiliates, he has expanded business to Houston, Dallas, Miami and New York; at the same time, he has established videoconferencing centers in major Latin American cities.

Clients pay $40 for a half-hour and $80 per hour in the United States.

Families in Latin America, where most of the U.S. clients are from, pay nothing, but often must travel long distances to the major cities where the service is located.

AmigoLatino's Providence office is strategically located across the hall from Uniendo Fronteras (United Frontiers), a multiservice agency run by Biguria's friend, Michele Petrarca. The office is downstairs from the Guatemalan Consulate of Rhode Island.

Petrarca is becoming a partner in Biguria's venture, adding videoconferencing to the money transfers, translation, fax and photocopying and other services that Uniendo Fronteras offers.

"The purpose of this is to unite migratory families here, who left kids, parents, and brothers and sisters" behind, while forging new lives in this country, Petrarca said.

Given the emotional experiences of their clients, Biguria and Petrarca believe that others will learn "from word of mouth. That's very important to us. Every family leaves very happy," Biguria said.

Gonzales, a landscaper from Framingham, Mass., walked into the AmigoLatino office on Friday with his wife and children, and his brother Rony, after first visiting the Guatemalan Consulate upstairs.

Biguria demonstrated how the service works, including showing photos of dozens of family members who traveled hours to a videoconference in Latin America. The Gonzales brothers decided to sign up, and are hoping to arrange a videoconference with their family in Guatemala next week.

Rony, a restaurant worker, said he speaks with his parents every other week by telephone, but when he calls, "not everybody is there."

"We do everything for them," said Biguria. Clients call [or contact] us here, and tell where their families are, and when they want to see them."

Biguria or Petrarca then contacts family members in the home country, "and we explain to them that they'll be able to see their family live -- all they need to do is show up a little early" at the nearest AmigoLatino office.

Biguria said the offices are set up "like living rooms in your homes," with comfortable couches and Latin American accents, such as Indian weavings, paintings of Latin American scenes, or other traditional handicrafts.

Immediately after Biguria and Petrarca gave an interview Friday morning with a Rhode Island radio station, Petrarca's office phone began ringing. The callers wanted to find out how to use the service.

AmigoLatino, at 754 Branch Ave., Suite 101, can be reached at (401) 432-7700. Online information is available in English and Spanish at www.amigolatino.com.

kziner@projo.com/(401)-277-7375.