KNOWLEDGE WITHIN REACH 131males. It is a way of saying, “I like you.” In performing an abrazo, the
chests come together and the arms engulf the back of the other person.
Unfortunately, I know a lot of people who are reluctant to do this and/or
feel very awkward when they do. I have seen American businessmen in
Latin America who will either refuse to give an abrazo or when they do
it, appear as though they’re dancing with their grandmother. My advice is
to do it and get it right, since little courtesies mean a lot in any culture.
Learning a proper abrazo is no different than learning to shake hands
correctly and feeling comfortable doing it. If you are a businessman and
will be working in Latin America, you will be perceived as cold or aloof
if you fail to learn this familiar greeting. There’s no need for that when a
simple gesture can engender so much good will and make you simpatico
(see box 34).
BOX 34: DON’T GET BUGGED IF YOU GET HUGGEDYears ago at an espionage trial in Tampa, Florida, the defense attorney
put me on the stand and, wishing to embarrass or discredit me, asked
somewhat sarcastically, “Mr. Navarro, isn’t it true that you used to hug my
client, the defendant, every time you met with him?” I then replied, “It
wasn’t a hug, counselor, it was an abrazo, and there is a difference.” I
paused dramatically for a second and then continued, “It was also an op-
portunity for me to see if your client was armed, since he once robbed a
bank.” The startled defense attorney ended the provocative line of inquiry
then and there, since he was not aware that his client had previously
committed a bank robbery with a gun.
Interestingly, this abrazo story made the papers as though the people
of Tampa and nearby Ybor City (settled by Latinos) had never heard of an
abrazo. Since this trial, the attorney in question and I have become close
friends and he is now a federal judge. After nearly twenty years, we still
laugh about the “abrazo incident.”