Four major media companies, nearly a half-dozen elected officials and the New York Yankees all have fled the Puerto Rican Day Parade — and on Friday, so did Gov. Cuomo.
He did not give a reason for his move, but it comes as a growing number of participants have abandoned the June 11 parade over organizers’ decision to honor ex-FALN leader Oscar López Rivera, a convicted terrorist.
“The governor’s support and long-term affection for the Puerto Rican community remains unwavering. Unfortunately, he will not be marching in this year’s parade,” Cuomo’s spokeswoman, Dani Lever, said without elaborating.
Soon after Cuomo’s move, WNBC and Telemundo announced they were joining the long list of parade boycotters.
Hours earlier, Puerto Rico’s governor slammed parade organizers for trying to turn López Rivera into a hero, saying the decision to honor him was “beyond comprehension.”
“I would urge anyone — all of the sponsors and anyone to avoid supporting this endeavor,” Gov. Ricardo Rossello told The Post editorial board.
“I’m a very hands-on governor. I like to be in touch with the citizens. I can tell you that the vast majority in Puerto Rico opposes this, and they have good reasons. Nobody wants to celebrate [López Rivera’s] actions,” he said.
“I firmly reject this being associated with the people of Puerto Rico.”
Now 74, López Rivera was released this year after serving 35 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, transportation of explosives and robbery. His nationalist group, the FALN, was behind scores of bloody attacks in the US, including the 1975 bombing at Fraunces Tavern in the Financial District, which killed four and wounded dozens.
President Barack Obama commuted his sentence in January.
“I would describe him as a person that took certain actions that cost — the results of those actions from that group cost lives,” Rossello said.
He said he and many other Puerto Ricans had supported the campaign to free López Rivera as a humanitarian gesture.
Rossello said all Americans want to crack down on terrorism, not advance it.
“We have to question why something like this is being done to honor someone in a parade . . . To me, it’s beyond comprehension,” he said.
Rossello also rapped Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has defended the parade’s decision to give López Rivera its National Freedom Award.
Asked about rumors that the Puerto Rican-born Mark-Viverito might run for governor of the island, Rossello said, “She can come to the island and try, but I can tell you she won’t win a seat on the municipal legislature over there.”
Rossello supports Puerto Rican statehood. Mark-Viverito supports island independence.
Cuomo and Rossello are just the latest to ditch the parade.
Nearly all of its major sponsors have fled, including AT&T, Coca-Cola, Corona, JetBlue, the Yankees and Univision.
And numerous other elected officials have said they’ll be no-shows, including state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Sen. Charles Schumer.
That makes Mayor de Blasio the most prominent official still planning to march.