Oscar López Rivera won’t be honored at Puerto Rican Day parade after all
Former terror leader Oscar López Rivera will not be honored at this year’s Puerto Rican Day parade, after the ex-FALN chieftain decided to turn down the award in the face of a widespread parade boycott.
Organizers of the June 11 march said the freed terror boss will forgo the “National Freedom Hero” honor and instead just march as a “humble” grandfather.
“He declined the honorary title at the parade. We respect that decision,” parade spokesman Andres Chavez said.
Lopez Rivera freed the parade organizers from having to take a stand on their decision to fete him, when he announced in an op-ed column published Thursday that he no longer wants the controversial award.
“I will be on Fifth Ave. not as your honoree but as a humble Puerto Rican and grandfather who at 74 continues to be committed to helping raise awareness about the fiscal, health-care and human-rights crisis Puerto Rico is facing at this historic juncture,” López Rivera wrote in the piece.
López Rivera did not address his terrorist roots, which sparked the outcry over his involvement in the parade.
The convicted felon was a leader of the Puerto Rican nationalist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, or FALN, which claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings in the 1970s and ’80s.
One was at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan in 1975, a blast that killed four and injured dozens.
López Rivera’s sentence for conspiring to overthrow the US government and for carrying explosives was commuted in January by President Barack Obama after the FALN leader served more than 35 years in prison.
In the op-ed, López Rivera said he and the Puerto Rican community have “transcended violence” and are “not advocating anything that would be a threat to anyone. This is a national parade. All Puerto Ricans are welcome.”
Still, critics claimed that he had damaged this year’s parade beyond repair and his remarks wouldn’t convince numerous individuals and companies that pulled out to return.
“The die has been cast. The time for damage control has passed,” said Angelo Falcon, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy.
Nearly all the major sponsors have bolted — including Goya Foods, AT&T, Corona, JetBlue, the Yankees and media outlets such as Univision and Telemundo. Top elected officials that will be no-shows include Gov. Cuomo and Sen. Charles Schumer.
The three citywide officials — Mayor de Blasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James — are all attending. But de Blasio said he will be marching separately from López Rivera.
“Oscar Lopez Rivera agreeing to step aside from any formal role in the parade is a critical step forward in refocusing our city’s attention on the more important issues facing Puerto Rico,” the mayor said in a statement.
Key members of New York City’s congressional delegation also won’t be there — Reps. Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney and Hakeem Jeffries.
Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen
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