Which countries are "fierce" when it comes to hand signals? (speaking, population)

[GuitarHero45]

I noticed Cubans and Puerto Ricans in particular love to swing their hands around a lot when talking or expressing themselves, similar to Italians.

However, I rarely ever see Mexicans or Ecuadorians use their hands when speaking, unless they're very angry.

I'm curious how common the use of hand signals are in other Latin American countries.

[Chanteuse d' Opéra]

Originally Posted by GuitarHero45

I noticed Cubans and Puerto Ricans in particular love to swing their hands around a lot when talking or expressing themselves, similar to Italians.

However, I rarely ever see Mexicans or Ecuadorians use their hands when speaking, unless they're very angry.

I'm curious how common the use of hand signals are in other Latin American countries.

I'm assuming maybe some Brazilians or Argentinians use a lot of hand motions when speaking...the more Euro blood (Italian/German/etc) the more passion, countries w/ a lot of indigenous heritage probably don't use their hands as much...

[_jbub88_]

Panamanians are at top of the list.

[UrbanLuis]

I heard Salvadoreans are good with the hand signs.

[2ner]

Most Cubans and Puerto Ricans have some African blood in them. Most Mexicans and Ecuadorians have a lot of indigenous blood in them. Africans are much more physically expressive when communicating than are Native Americans. These influences or characteristics probably carry over in contemporary mixed-race populations. When I lived in Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans also thought they had more chispa than the Mexicans (some of whom live on the island). My guess is that mestizo Latin America tends more toward the reserved than the Caribbean-oriented countries.