TERROR ON PARADE
FALN’s Oscar on lead float i n PR march
Oscar López Rivera, exleader of the murderous FALN, joined council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito on the lead float at yesterday’s Puerto Rican Day Parade — built by a tax- funded group.
Convicted terrorist Oscar López Rivera defiantly took center stage at the city’s Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday — pumping his fist on the lead float despite a pledge that he was not going to be honored.
López Rivera — who spent 35 years in prison for his role leading the murderous Puerto Rican independence group FALN — thumped his chest while shouting, “Que viva Puerto Rico!” alongside his Big Apple patron, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
“It’s repulsive, I’m sick to my stomach,” said retired NYPD Detective Tony Senft, 70, who lost an eye while diffusing one of the FALN’s bombs at a Manhattan courthouse in 1982.
López Rivera and the council speaker were aboard a float built by an East Harlem food co-op that received nearly $250,000 in taxpayer money from Mark-Viverito’s office last year, according to sources and city records.
López Rivera’s in-your-face presence at the event came after weeks of controversy over his being feted while set to receive the parade’s National Freedom Hero award.
Everyone from Gov. Cuomo to NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill refused to march at the popular annual parade — and the parade lost nearly all of its big-bucks sponsors — prompting López Rivera to say he would not accept the award.
But the ex-con refused to be sidelined, even donning a black-and-white T-shirt protesting PROMESA, the United States’ bid to address Puerto Rico’s crippling debt crisis.
“I feel good about being here,” he said.
Cops who were stationed along the route rolled their eyes and shook their heads in disgust at the former terror leader as he passed by.
“If I wasn’t in uniform, I wouldn’t be caught dead here,” one officer said.
López Rivera drew cheers and jeers from the crowd, which Puerto Rican activists acknowledged was down in attendance because of his being there.
“This is a day for honoring the republic of Puerto Rico — not honoring a terrorist,’’ fumed 38-year-old Mark Rivera, no relation, of The Bronx.
A Florida tourist booed at López Rivera, saying, “He did not represent me.”
When one of the convicted terror leader’s supporters heard the woman booing, she shouted at her, “This is your history!”
And some of his supporters proudly carried signs reading, “Oscar López Rivera is our Mandela.”
Mayor de Blasio had initially said he would march, then backpedaled and
said he wouldn’t if López Rivera were honored. When López Rivera said he wouldn’t accept the honor, de Blasio said he would, in fact, take part in the parade.
Despite López Rivera clearly being the guest of honor Sunday, Hizzoner still marched up Fifth Avenue, although keeping his distance about eight to 10 blocks behind him.
Hizzoner sipped a Gatorade and smiled for selfies alongside his city Human Rights commissioner, Arnie Segarra, as critics raged.
“He’s prostituting himself for votes,” Senft said of the mayor. “I don’t understand how anyone can march with a known terrorist.”
The mayor was mum when The Post asked him why he was still marching given López Rivera’s obvious hero treatment, but a spokesman for the mayor later insisted, “López wasn’t an honoree.”
“We’re talking about the placement of some float some guy marched with,” the rep said. “This is silliness. Let’s talk about the health-care crisis of 3.5 million people in Puerto Rico.”
Longtime parade insiders noted the relatively small crowd size, with one well-placed source saying, “This is the lowest parade turnout I’ve seen since 1979.”
The FALN was responsible for more than 100 bombings in the 1970s and ’80s, including at downtown’s historic Fraunces Tavern, where four people were killed in a blast.
López Rivera, 74, one of the deadly group’s co-founders, served 35 years of a 70-year prison sentence for scheming to overthrow the US government and then for plotting a violent prison escape while incarcerated in Leavenworth Penitentiary.
Former President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January.
Detectives’ Endowment Association President Michael Palladino said, “Most people I speak with are just glad the parade drama is over and look forward to new leadership in the council soon.
“I don’t know what [Mark-Viverito’s] political ambitions are beyond the council, but I imagine the political fallout will haunt her wherever she goes,” he added.
Mark-Viverito has blamed the controversy on the media and “corporate interests,” claiming the day was one of “unity and celebration.”
But López Rivera’s presence was hardly unifying.
Even Timothy Cardinal Dolan — who in the past has stood outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral to wave and give a blessing — apparently joined the long list of no-shows.
After the parade, the council speaker partied with López Rivera at La Marqueta, the market that has received tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding and created the float both of them rode on, according to sources. López Rivera was then headed to Chicago.
Reps for La Marqueta did not return a request for comment.