Malliotakis to boycott Puerto Rican Day Parade
Mayoral candidate opposes Oscar Lopez Rivera tribute
Republican mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis, who is traveling all over the city trying to win over voters, has decided that there is one group of people she will not visit: the organizers of the 60th National Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Malliotakis has announced that she will boycott the parade this year due to the decision by the organizers to honor Oscar Lopez Rivera, a political extremist who was implicated in the bombing at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan in 1975 that killed four people.
Lopez Rivera, who headed the FALN organization, spent 35 years in prison for participating in more than 100 bombings in the name of independence for Puerto Rico. He was pardoned by former President Barack Obama in the last days of Obama’s term in office.
Malliotakis, an assemblymember representing parts of Bay Ridge and Staten Island, said she is outraged over the selection of Lopez Rivera as the subject of a tribute by parade organizers.