Venezuela's newspapers running out of paper to print

[Zorro]

"This city has grown up around this newspaper," says Antonio Briceño, the editor of La Antorcha, a newspaper in Venezuela's eastern city of El Tigre. "But the problem is getting worse every day. The business is now unsustainable."

Unlike many of his counterparts in the United States who are struggling to find advertising revenue to fund their editorial work, Briceño's problem is in some ways more fundamental: "There's no paper."

Because of currency controls enacted a decade ago by the government of former president Hugo Chávez, there are so few U.S. dollars in Venezuela to pay for the import of newsprint that more than half of the country's local press is within weeks of going out of print, according to numerous editors and industry leaders spoken to by USA TODAY.

At least five outlets have already shut down. Briceño has around 30 days' supply left, more than many of his colleagues across the country.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/07/venezuela-newspaper-wars/2749897/

[exboyfil]

1. My old debate partner sold his paper to

Hugo Chavez a few years ago. I never got the full story on that.