NEW YORK -- Oscar Lopez Rivera may not have officially been honored as a National Freedom Hero in the city's Puerto Rican Day Parade, but the fervent nationalist who spent decades in prison for his involvement with a group responsible for a string of bombings in the 1970s and '80s still got to ride on a float.
Lopez Rivera was cheered and booed as he stood proudly clutching a Puerto Rican flag when the parade stepped off in Manhattan on Sunday, the day the U.S. territory voted overwhelmingly to choose statehood in a nonbinding referendum. His supporters followed, carrying signs that read, "Oscar Lopez Rivera is our Mandela."
Nanchelle Rivera, who is no relation, was not among them. From the sidelines, she said she refuses to back the man who served 35 years in prison for his involvement with a group responsible for bombings that killed and maimed dozens of people.
"He did not represent me," said Nanchelle Rivera, visiting from Orlando, Fla.
A supporter in the parade heard her booing and shouted back, "This is your history!"
Weeks of controversy preceded the activist's planned appearance. People and corporations, including AT&T and JetBlue, withdrew from the parade to protest the decision to honor the 74-year-old former member of the militant Puerto Rican nationalist group Armed Forces of National Liberation.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and several police and fire department groups also said they wouldn't attend.
Lopez Rivera said last week that he wouldn't accept the National Freedom Hero title, which organizers at first granted him, but would join the parade as a regular citizen, partly because the focus was too much on him and not enough on Puerto Rico's plight. The parade's board of directors said Lopez Rivera would join the parade "not as an honoree but as a humble Puerto Rican and grandfather."
Parade board vice chairman Ululy Martinez said Lopez Rivera was placed on a float because of his age and the 92-degree heat.
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Democrat, walked with the lead group in the parade, then climbed up on the float to join Lopez Rivera.
"This is a day of unity and celebration," she said.
Most of the tens of thousands of revelers turned out simply to celebrate Puerto Rico, happily salsa-dancing and waving Puerto Rican flags. Some wrapped their bodies in the flag, others adorned their heads with the red, white and blue colors.
Old friends Sandy Santiago-Ramos and Gloria Pagan have been attending the parade from the Bronx since they were kids. Santiago-Ramos said she hopes the parade keeps Puerto Ricans united.
"I hope the politics surrounding it doesn't dampen the parade and the spirit of the parade," she said.
The parade often has been a venue to showcase the complicated history of the U.S. territory, now mired in a recession. This year, it came on the day Puerto Ricans were voting in the referendum among three choices: independence, statehood or their current territorial status. Nearly a half-million votes were cast for statehood, more than 7,600 for free association/independence and nearly 6,700 for independence. Congress has final say on any changes to the territory's political status.
Decades ago, the Armed Forces of National Liberation claimed responsibility for more than 100 bombings in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including a 1975 blast that killed four people at New York's historic Fraunces Tavern.
Lopez Rivera was convicted of seditious conspiracy. He has denied participating in attacks that injured anyone. He was released last month following the commutation of his sentence by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat who for weeks defended his own decision to march, said last week that he was uncomfortable with the idea of honoring Lopez Rivera all along. He showed up for the march, making no comments but shaking hands with people across police barricades.
A Section on 06/12/2017