Ecuador's President Suggests Eliminating Print Newspapers

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa reacts after hearing the election results at Carondelet Palace in Quito February 17, 2013. Correa claimed a re-election victory on Sunday that would allow him to strengthen state control over the OPEC nation's economy and

Ecuador President Rafael Correa has suggested he might try to eliminate print newspapers in the country and force them to go all-digital as a way to save paper.

In a Twitter posting late Monday, Correa seemed to propose a referendum that newspapers be published in digital format alone in order "to save paper and avoid so many trees being cut."
President Correa has a prickly relationship with Ecuador's opposition-owned newspapers, and his Tweet was in response to the papers' backing a proposed referendum to block oil exploration in Yasuni National Park.

The president announced last week he is asking Ecuador's Congress to back drilling in Yasuni, which was declared a U.N. biosphere reserve in 1989.

Ecuadoran Association of Newspaper Editors Director Diego Cornejo said it is too soon to say if Correa is serious about his referendum suggestion.