Cloud of Controversy Has Not Entirely Lifted Over Puerto Rican Day Parade

Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez Rivera is stepping aside as an official honoree of next weekend's Puerto Rican Day Parade. But that does not mean the cloud of controversy over the event, and the mayor's participation in it, has entirely lifted. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report.

Mayor Bill de Blasio may be breathing a sigh of relief. Puerto Rican activist Oscar Lopez Rivera says he will forgo being officially honored at the Puerto Rican Day Parade. 

Lopez Rivera wrote parade organizers, "Rather than remain an honoree, I am bestowing the honor…on our pioneers who came to the United States and opened doors."

He says he will still march down 5th Avenue. 

Lopez Rivera spent 35 years in prison for his ties to a militant group, the FALN, that was behind more than 100 bombings around the country, including one that killed four people in Manhattan in 1975. 

De Blasio had refused to say whether he supported the decision to honor Lopez Rivera. 

"The parade committee made a decision," the mayor said Wednesday. "I don't know the specifics of their thought process."

The mayor committed to marching, even as other top officials, including Governor Andrew Cuomo, de Blasio's own police commissioner and Democrats in Congress said they were staying home. 

"I'm not going to march in any parade that honors a terrorist. I am not going to do that," Cuomo said.

De Blasio's Republican challengers made it clear that even though Lopez Rivera will not be an honoree, they are not dropping their complaints about how the mayor handled things. 

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis says Lopez Rivera actually showed more concern for the parade than de Blasio and the City Council speaker.

Melissa Mark-Viverito, Mayor de Blasio, they have been silent. They have refused to answer questions. They didn't even denounce his actions," Malliotakis said.

The mayor issued a statement saying that Lopez Rivera's decision to relinquish his formal role in the parade is a critical step forward in focusing the city's attention on more important issues facing Puerto Rico.