Best of AS/COA Online in 2016

Before we move on from 2016 too quickly, it’s worthwhile to take stock of all that happened at AS/COA this year—and there was a lot going on with more than 270 events across the hemisphere. Here are AS/COA Online’s most popular articles, videos, live event webcasts, podcast episodes, and social media posts from the year. Thanks to all for joining us this year, and we’ll see you in 2017.

Top Articles

5. “Weekly Chart: Separating Fact and Fiction in U.S. Views of Mexico”
July 13

Over half (56 percent) of Americans polled said the number of Mexican immigrants heading to the United States illegally rose in the last five years. The fact? More Mexicans are leaving the United States than arriving—a net loss of 140,000 migrants from 2009 to 2014, to be precise.

4. “Poll Update: Hispanic Voters and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election”
July 12

While Democrat Hillary Clinton edged out Republican Donald Trump in every Latino demographic in this Pew Research poll ahead of November 8, the Trump had more notable support, albeit still a minority, over one sub-demographic: Hispanics who are English dominant. Forty-one percent of those who were more proficient in English than in Spanish planned to support the now-president-elect, compared to just 11 percent of Spanish-dominant and bilingual Hispanics.

3. “Explainer: Who’s Running in the 2016 Peruvian Presidential Election?”
March 8 

The race to replace the outgoing Ollanta Humala was a topsy-turvy one that saw top candidates disqualified over things like misfiled paperwork. In retrospect, there is one stat that perhaps could have presaged Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s eventual victory amid the crowded field: he had the lowest disapproval rating of any other first-round candidate.

2. “Update: Venezuela Is Running Short of Everything”
March 24

At the beginning of the year, 87 percent of Venezuelans were buying less food than they used to—and the situation has only become more severe in the months since. Beyond basic necessities like food and medicine, Venezuela is suffering losses of intellectuals in their prime working years too: more than half of the 1.5 million Venezuelans who’ve emigrated in the last 20 years have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and their median age is 32. (Puede leer una traducción de este artículo en español también.)

1. “Explainer: The Zika Virus in Latin America”
January 20

Where was the first place Zika showed up in the Western Hemisphere? Not Brazil, but Chile’s Easter Island—in 2014.

Top Videos

3. “2016 Americas Society Cultural Achievement Award: Gustavo Dudamel”
March 21

"They are me," said Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, when receiving Americas Society's Cultural Achievement Award, about the more than 700,000 youth playing in El Sistema orchestras in his country. Dudamel is one of the most decorated conductors of his generation, but his life story told during this interview with Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson of CBS News' 60 Minutes showed his passion for education.