Friday, June 2, 2017

Oscar López Rivera Steps Aside As Puerto Rican Day Parade Honoree

A Puerto Rican nationalist at the center of a growing controversy over his role as an honoree in New York's iconic Puerto Rican Day Parade has stepped aside and will instead participate in the event as a "humble Puerto Rican."

In an editorial in New York's Daily News, Oscar López Rivera wrote, "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."

The Daily News had reported that a City Hall source had said it had been pushing for López Rivera to step aside. The parade's board of directors issued a statement Thursday night confirming he would no longer be an honoree. "We are looking forward to marching with Oscar López Rivera and respect his decision to walk up Fifth Avenue, 'not as an honoree but as a humble Puerto Rican and grandfather.'" 

Click here for the full article. 

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