Corral wrote that the three had been fired for violating conflict of interest rules. "The story, and the disciplinary action, unleashed a firestorm of protest from Cuban-Americans and others in greater Miami. Over a thousand readers canceled their subscriptions. The accused at Nuevo Herald protested that they had permission from a previous editor to work at Radio Martí. Those accused who did not work for Nuevo Herald wondered why the Miami Herald story had cast as reprehensible a practice which they regarded as professionally unremarkable, and also a moral duty. Charges of racism and anti-Cuban prejudice raced through the Cuban-American community and fetched headlines elsewhere. "Miami Herald publisher Jesús Díaz, Jr., held ultimate responsibility for both newspapers. He had made the decision to fire the three Nuevo Herald reporters. As criticism mounted, he came in for scathing critique within both the Nuevo Herald and—to the surprise of some—the Miami Herald newsrooms. On September 15, nationally recognized Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen submitted for publication a column about the Radio Martí incident in which, Díaz felt, Hiaasen made light of the situation. Fearing more backlash, Díaz spiked the column. Hiaasen protested, and threatened to resign. "The McClatchy Company had bought the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, with its crown jewel, the Miami Herald, just three months earlier. Headquartered in Sacramento, California, McClatchy rarely interfered in the running of its properties. But when news of the Hiaasen stand-off reached Vice President for News Howard Weaver, he intervened. Hiaasen’s column, he ruled, would run—and it appeared in its regularly scheduled slot on September 17." In the days following the controversy, Corral received multiple death threats on himself and his family. The Miami Herald reportedly moved Corral and his family into a secure location with 24-hour security for two months. Corral continued working on investigative stories on how the United States government was spending hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to promote democracy in Cuba. From September through December of that year, Corral published another 5 investigative articles on the topic. They ultimately led to the departure of USAID's Cuba program director. A TV Marti executive was also indicted on corruption charges in the aftermath of the articles. Much of the money was flowing into local media organizations, and never made it to Cuba. Corral was targeted by many on local Spanish-language radio and television with insults and as Miami Herald editor Tom Fiedler put it at the time, "blood libel."