By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
No one knows how many residents have left the city of 1.4 million since a turf battle over border drug corridors unleashed an unprecedented wave of cartel murders and mayhem.
Mr. Murguia said extortion payments are so common that they've become known as "cobras del piso" or "floor charges" for doing business in Juarez — but there's no measure of how much payoffs cost businesses citywide per year because few admit to paying them.
As commerce in the city dries up, even Juarez residents who do not move north cross into El Paso more frequently for services no longer available in their neighborhoods and spend $220 million a year in El Paso, Mr. Murguia said.
