August 3, 1995; 28 years ago (1995-08-03) by elected Puerto Rican government after issuing regulation identifying colors but not specifying color shades; medium blue replaced dark blue as de facto shade of triangle[1]
July 24, 1952; 71 years ago (1952-07-24) by elected Puerto Rican government with the establishment of the commonwealth after issuing law identifying colors but not specifying color shades; dark blue became de facto shade of triangle, replacing presumed original light blue[2][3]
December 22, 1895; 128 years ago (1895-12-22) by pro-independence members of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico exiled in New York City; members identified colors as red, white, and blue but did not specify color shades; some historians have presumed members adopted light blue shade based on the light blue flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt[4]
Design
Five equal horizontal stripes, alternating from red to white, with a blue equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bearing a large, white, upright five-pointed star in the center; see Specifications for dimensions and color schemes
The flag of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Bandera de Puerto Rico) represents Puerto Rico and its people. It consists of five equal horizontal stripes, alternating from red to white, with a blue equilateral triangle based on the hoist side bearing a large, white, upright five-pointed star in the center. The white star stands for the island, the three sides of the triangle for the three branches of the government, the blue for the sky and the coastal waters, the red for the blood shed by warriors, and the white for liberty, victory, and peace.[5] The flag is popularly known as La Monoestrellada (TheMonostarred), meaning having one star, a single star, or a lone star.[6][7] It is in the Stars and Stripes flag family.
In September 1868, the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico launched the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt against Spanish rule in the island, carrying as their standard a flag conceived by Ramón Emeterio Betances and embroidered by Mariana "Brazos de Oro" Bracetti.[8] Betances combined the quartered flag of the First Dominican Republic and the lone star on the flag of Cuba to create the flag, with the aim of promoting the union of neighboring Spanish-speakingGreater Antilles—the single-nation islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the two-nation island of Hispaniola—into a regional Antillean Confederation for the protection and preservation of their sovereignty and interests.[9] Marking the establishment of a national Puerto Rican consciousness under colonial rule for the first time, the Bandera del Grito de Lares(Cry of Lares flag), most commonly known as the Bandera de Lares(Lares flag), is recognized as the first flag of Puerto Rico.[10]
In December 1895, exiled Puerto Rican revolutionaries, many of them veterans of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt, re-established the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico under the name Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party) as part of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City, where they continued to advocate for Puerto Rican independence from Spain with the support of Cuban national hero José Martí and other Cuban exiles, who similarly began their struggle for self-determination in 1868 when the Grito de Yara (Cry of Yara) revolt triggered the Ten Years' War (Guerra de los Diez Años) for independence against Spanish rule in Cuba, which, along with Puerto Rico, represented all that remained from Spain’s once extensive American empire since 1825.
Determined to affirm the union of the Cuban and Puerto Rican struggle for national independence and fight against Spanish colonialism and imperialism into a single, common cause, the committee, with the knowledge and approval of their fellow Cuban exiles, unanimously adopted the Cuban flag with colors inverted as the new flag to represent an independent Republic of Puerto Rico, replacing the Lares flag, which had been used by revolutionaries as the flag of a prospective independent Puerto Rico since their attempt at self-determination in 1868, but was eventually rejected, as it represented a failed revolt, a sentiment strongly supported by Lola Rodríguez de Tío, Puerto Rican poet, pro-independence leader, and committee member, who spent her later life exiled in liberated Cuba.[11][12]
Members of the Puerto Rican revolutionary committee identified the colors of their new flag as "red", "white", and "blue" but failed to specify any color shades.[13] Relying on contemporaneous but secondaryoral sources, some historians have presumed that light blue was the color shade specifically adopted by the committee members, as their sources claim this was the same shade used on the Lares flag, the first revolutionary flag many of said members had rallied around in 1868.[4] However, like with the flag of 1895, which appears in one of its oldest color depictions in the early 1900s with a medium blue shade, there is no written primary source account specifying the original color shade of blue used on the Lares flag, the only two surviving original renditions of which feature different color shades of blue: one uses light blue and the other dark blue.[14][15][16]
The new revolutionary flag of Puerto Rico was first flown on the island in May 1896 during the funeral of pro-independence Puerto Rican leader and Grito de Lares veteran José Gualberto Padilla, and in March 1897 during the Intentona de Yauco (Attempted Coup of Yauco), the second and final revolt against Spanish rule prior to the invasion, occupation, and annexation of the island by the U.S. during the Spanish-American War in 1898.[17] As with the Lares flag, the use and display of this second flag was outlawed, as the only flags permitted to be flown in colonial Puerto Rico were the Spanish flag (1493 to 1898) and the American flag (1898 to 1952).
In July 1952, after several failed attempts by the colonial elected government of Puerto Rico in 1916, 1922, 1927, and 1932 to formalize the flag of 1895 as the flag of Puerto Rico, the government finally adopted it as the island’s official standard with the establishment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Free Associated State of Puerto Rico'), identifying its colors by law as "red", "white", and "blue" but not specifying any official color shades.[2][11]Luis Muñoz Marín, the architect and first governor of the commonwealth, and his administration, did not use a light or medium blue color shade for the triangle of the flag, but a dark blue one, which some have said was deliberately done to distance the flag from its revolutionary origins and link it to the similarly striped American flag through a shared shade of dark blue with the aim of conveying a message of harmony between Puerto Rico and the U.S.[18]
In August 1995, the government of Puerto Rico issued a regulation regarding the use of the flag titled "Reglamento sobre el Uso en Puerto Rico de la Bandera del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" ("Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico"), in which the government once again identified the colors to be used as "red", "white", and "blue" but did not specify any official color shades.[1] To this day, the color shades of the flag of Puerto Rico have never been officially determined by law in Puerto Rico, making all shades of blue legally legitimate and acceptable.
Therefore, it is common to see the triangle of the flag of Puerto Rico with different color shades of blue, ranging from the lighter sky blues to the medium azure blues and darker navy blues. Usually, but not always, the shade of blue displayed on the flag is used to show preference on the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status, with light blue, the shade presumably used by pro-independence revolutionaries in 1868 and 1895, representing independence from the U.S., dark blue, the shade used by pro-American functionaries since 1952, representing statehood or integration into the U.S. as a state, and medium blue, the shade in-between pro-independence light blue and pro-statehood dark blue most commonly used by the government and people since the 1990s, representing the current intermediary status of commonwealth as an unincorporated and organized U.S. territory.
Puerto Rico's flag ranked seventh out of 72 entries in a poll regarding flags of subdivisions of Canada and the United States conducted by the North American Vexillological Association in 2001.[19]
Celebrating in 2019, Boricuas raise LaMonoestrellada, which appears with various shades of blue
History
First colonial designs
The introduction of a flag in Puerto Rico can be traced back to November 19, 1493 when Christopher Columbus landed on the island's shore, and with the flag appointed to him by the Spanish Crown, claimed the island, originally known by its native Taino people as Borikén o Borinquen, in the name of Spain, calling it "San Juan Bautista” (“Saint John the Baptist”) in honor of prophet John the Baptist, who baptizedJesus Christ. Columbus wrote in his logbook that on October 12, 1492, he used the royal flag, and that his captains used two flags which the admiral carried in all the ships as ensign, each white with a green cross in the middle and an 'F' and 'Y', both green and crowned with golden, open royal crowns, for Ferdinand II of Aragon and Ysabel.[20]
Captain's Ensign of Columbus's Ships
The conquistadores under the command of Juan Ponce de León proceeded to conquer and settle the island in 1508. They carried as their military standard the "Spanish Expedition Flag.” After the island was conquered and colonized, the flag of Spain was used in Puerto Rico, same as it was used in all of its other colonies.[21] Once the Spanish armed forces established themselves on the island, they began the construction of military fortifications such as La Fortaleza, Fort San Felipe del Morro, Fort San Cristóbal and San Gerónimo. The Spanish Army designed the Cross of Burgundy Flag and adopted it as its standard. This flag flew wherever there was a Spanish military installation.[22]
In 1868, during the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt, Francisco Ramírez Medina, having been sworn in as Puerto Rico's first president by the revolutionaries, proclaimed the flag of Lares as the national flag of the "Republic of Puerto Rico,” and placed it on the high altar of the San José Parish in Lares, Puerto Rico, making it the first Puerto Rican flag.[24]
Original revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares (1868), known as the first Puerto Rican flag
There were several flags made for the revolt, but only two have survived to this day. The first revolutionary Lares flag is quartered by a centered white cross with two bottom red rectangles and two top light blue rectangles, the left of which bears a small, tiled, centered, white five-pointed star. According to anthropologist Ricardo Alegría, the flag was taken from the altar of the San José Parish of Lares by Spanish Captain José de Perignat, who kept it until his family donated it to Fordham University in New York City. In 1954, the university then gifted the flag to the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, then headed by Alegría, and in 1988, it was restored by the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.[15]
Since the early 20th century, some historians have questioned the authenticity of the flag, as there is no documentary evidence to validate that it was used in the revolt or that it was placed on the altar of the San José Parish in Lares, Puerto Rico.[25] It has been speculated that this flag is not an original Lares flag, but a copy made in the 1930s by nationalists for their commemoration of the Grito de Lares revolt. Yet at the same time, other historians claim that, despite the absence of primary sources to validate the flag, there is a long oral tradition of testimonies that authenticate it.[26]
Original revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares (1868), known as the first Puerto Rican flag
The second revolutionary Lares flag is quartered by a centered white cross with two red squares on the fly side and two dark blue squares on the hoist side, the top of which bears a small, tiled, centered, white five-pointed star. According to the Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico (ADNPR) (National Digital Archive of Puerto Rico), the flag, considered to be "La Coronela,” the most important flag that was used by the first company commanded by the colonel of the armies, was captured in 1868 by Spanish Captain Manuel Iturriaga, who led the repression of the revolutionaries of Lares, in the Piedra Gorda neighborhood of Camuy, Puerto Rico after it was discovered on the farm of a revolutionary buried in one of two wooden boxes alongside hundreds of cartridges for militia rifles. After Iturriaga’s death, the flag was donated by his son to the old Museo de Artillería de España (Museum of Artillery of Spain). Since its discovery in 2022, the flag is exhibited at the Museo Del Ejército(Museum of the Army) in Toledo, Spain.[25][27]
In 1872, the flag was mentioned in “Historia de la insurrección de Lares…” (“History of the insurrection of Lares…”), a chronicle on the Grito de Lares written by Spanish telegrapher and journalist José Manuel Pérez Moris, a contemporary who had migrated to Puerto Rico from Cuba in 1869.[28][29] Categorizing the flag as “la verdadera bandera de Lares” (“the real flag of Lares”), the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe (CEAPRC) (Center of Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean), claims that primary sources like Pérez Moris’ account of the revolt prove that this flag is the authentic one created by the revolutionary forces of the “Republic of Puerto Rico” that was to be born from the Grito de Lares(Cry of Lares) revolt in 1868.[16]
Bust of Mariana Bracetti knitting the revolutionary flag of Lares, in Añasco barrio-pueblo.
Last Spanish colonial design
In 1873, following the abdication of Amadeo I of Spain and with Spain's change from Kingdom to Republic, the Spanish government issued a new colonial flag for Puerto Rico. The new flag resembled the quartered flag of Lares, with the difference that it featured all four squares in the color red and the coat of arms of Puerto Rico in the center of the white cross. Spain's flag once more flew over Puerto Rico with the restoration of the Spanish kingdom in 1874, until 1898, the year that the island became a possession of the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1898) in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War.[30]
Current design
In December 1895, Juan de Mata Terreforte and other exiled Puerto Rican revolutionaries, many of them veterans of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt who fought alongside commander Manuel Rojas Luzardo, re-established the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico under the name Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party) as part of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City, where they continued to advocate for Puerto Rican independence from Spain with the support of Cuban national hero José Martí and other Cuban exiles, who similarly began their struggle for self-determination in 1868 when the Grito de Yara(Cry of Yara) revolt triggered the Ten Years' War (Guerra de los Diez Años) for independence against Spanish rule in Cuba, which, along with Puerto Rico, represented all that remained from Spain’s once extensive American empire since 1825.
Coat of arms of CRPR, representing an independent Republic of Puerto Rico, features, atop the motto“Patria y Libertad” (“Homeland and Liberty”), the flag of Puerto Rico, the island in front of a rising sun, the three red (blood of warriors) and two white (peace after independence) stripes of the flag, and the lion of the Spanish Kingdom being wrestled by Taino resistance leader against conquistadorJuan Ponce de León in Borikén, Agüeybaná II, who is standing on the lion’s fallen crown
Determined to affirm the union of the Cuban and Puerto Rican struggle for national independence and fight against Spanish colonialism and imperialism into a single, common cause, on December 22, with the knowledge and approval of their fellow Cuban revolutionaries, Terreforte, vice-president of the committee, and around fifty-eight fellow members gathered at the no longer existent Chimney Corner Hall in Manhattan, unanimously adopted the Cuban flag with colors inverted as the new flag to represent an independent Republic of Puerto Rico, replacing the Lares flag, which had been used by revolutionaries as the flag of a prospective independent Puerto Rico since their attempt at self-determination in 1868, but was eventually rejected, as it represented a failed revolt, a sentiment strongly supported by Lola Rodríguez de Tío, Puerto Rican poet, pro-independence leader, and committee member, who spent her later life exiled in liberated Cuba.[11][12]
CRPR members (seated L-R) Terreforte, José Henna, Roberto Todd (standing L-R) Manuel Besosa, Aurelio Méndez, Sotero Figueroa
In “Acta Tercera” (“Third Act”) of “Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano, 1895-1998” (“Memoir of the works accomplished by the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, 1895-1898”), a recollection on the activities of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico arranged by the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary Party), the unveiling of the new Puerto Rican flag is described in Spanish as:
"Terreforte, uno de los supervivientes del Grito de Lares, presentó la nueva bandera que es de la misma forma que la Cubana, con la diferencia de haber sido invertidos los colores: franjas blancas y triángulo azul en vez de rojo, con la misma estrella blanca solitaria en el centro."
"Terreforte, one of the survivors of the Cry of Lares, presented the new flag that is in the same way as the Cuban one, with the difference that the colors have been inverted: white stripes and blue triangle instead of red, with the same lone white star in the center."
The flag is mentioned in Spanish for a second time in the same memoir under “Memoria de la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano,” (“Memoir of the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party), an account written by Puerto Rican senior committee member Roberto H. Todd and endorsed by fellow member José Julio Henna, president of the committee, at the end of the functions of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in 1898:
"Acordosé además por la Asamblea adoptar como bandera de Puerto Rico el mismo pabellón Cubano con los colores invertidos, esto es: listas blancas y rojas y el triángulo azul con la estrella solitaria blanca…"
Roberto H. Todd y José Julio Henna, Septiembre de 1898[13][32]
"It was also agreed by the Assembly to adopt as the flag of Puerto Rico the same Cuban flag with the inverted colors, that is: white and red bands and the blue triangle with the white lone star..."
Roberto H. Todd y José Julio Henna, September 1898[13][32]
The name of the designer of the newly created Puerto Rican flag does not appear in the chronicle.
Terreforte attributes the design to Gonzalo Marín, a member of the Cuban Liberation Army from Puerto Rico who died fighting for independence in Cuba in 1897. In May 1923, responding to a letter from fellow committee member Domingo Collazo asking him to clarify the origin of the design adopted in New York City after reading several different versions about its origin in the Puerto Rican newspapers, Terreforte, who presented the design to members of the committee in 1895, credits the idea of a design based on the Cuban flag with colors inverted to Francisco Gonzalo Marín.
The original response of Terreforte in Spanish reads as:
"La adopción de la bandera Cubana con los colores invertidos me fue sugerida por el insigne patriota Francisco Gonzalo Marín en una carta que me escribió desde Jamaica. Yo hice la proposición a los patriotas puertorriqueños que asistieron al mitin de Chimney Hall y fue aprobada unánimemente."
Juan de Mata Terreforte, 18 de Mayo de 1923[13][33]
“The adoption of the Cuban flag with the colors inverted was suggested by the distinguished patriot Francisco Gonzalo Marín in a letter he wrote me from Jamaica. I made the proposition to Puerto Rican patriots who assisted the meeting at Chimney Hall and it was unanimously approved."
For its part, "La Asociación Manatieña Amigos de la Bandera" (Manatieña Association Friends of the Flag) credits fellow Manatieño Vélez Alvarado for the design based on the studies of Puerto Rican archeologist and historian Ovidio Dávila. According to the scholar, the origin of the flag’s design traces back to June 1892 when Vélez Alvarado suffered a momentary "optical illusion... as if by a 'rare color blindness,’ in which he perceived that the red triangle of the Cuban flag had turned blue and the blue stripes red." Inspired by this experience, Vélez Alvarado created a new flag design for Puerto Rico. A few days later, according to Dávila, Vélez Alvarado presented his new design to Cuban pro-independence leader José Martí at dinner party attended by revolutionaries and friends. Martí, says Dávila, gave Vélez Alvarado his approval, and "soon after" he published in his newspaper, Patria, "a chronicle in which he emotionally described" the evening.[34]
Puerto Rican professor of history Armando Martí Carvajal has refuted Davila’s findings based on the fact that none of his sources are primary sources. Carvajal contends that Martí never actually confirmed any of the claims made by Davila, explaining that Martí did wrote on many occasions about the flag of Puerto Rico, as he did on April 23, 1892 and June 4, 1892, but in these cases he was referring to the Lares flag, not to a new flag.[13]
Other historians have claimed that neither Gonzalo Marín or Velez Alvarado designed the flag, attributing it instead to fellow Puerto Rican revolutionaries Manuel Besosa, whose daughter claimed to have sown the flag, or Lola Rodríguez de Tió, prominent pro-independence Puerto Rican poet who composed the first version of the national anthem of Puerto Rico, La Borinqueña, in 1868 as the rallying cry for the Grito de Lares(Cry of Lares) revolt, and who famously wrote “A Cuba” (“To Cuba”), in which she describes in Spanish the intertwined independence struggles of the two islands and the strong bonds between their exiled revolutionaries as:[11][13]
The new revolutionary flag of Puerto Rico was first flown on the island in May 1896 during the funeral of pro-independence Puerto Rican leader and Grito de Lares veteran José Gualberto Padilla.[17] A year later, in 1897, Antonio Mattei Lluberas visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City to plan an uprising in Yauco. He returned to Puerto Rico with the new Puerto Rican flag. On March 24, 1897, a group of men openly carrying the flag for the first time in Puerto Rico, led by Fidel Vélez, attacked the barracks of Spanish Civil Guard in the town Yauco. The Intentona de Yauco (Attempted Coup of Yauco) revolt was the second and last major attempt against Spanish rule in the island, which was invaded, occupied, and annexed by the U.S. during the Spanish-American War in July 1898.[37][38]
New revolutionary flag, the flag of Puerto Rico, being flown openly for the first time on island during the Intentona de Yauco (Attempted Coup of Yauco) in 1897
Outlawed display
As with the Lares flag, the use and display of this second revolutionary flag was outlawed, as the only flags permitted to be flown in colonial Puerto Rico were the Spanish flag (1493 to 1898) and the American flag (1898 to 1952). From December 10, 1898, the date of the annexation of Puerto Rico by the U.S., to July 25, 1852, the date of the establishment the commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Free Associated State of Puerto Rico'), it was considered a felony to display the Puerto Rican flag in public, with the flag of the United States being the only flag permitted to be flown on the island.[39] However, the Puerto Rican flag was often used by the pro-independence Liberal Party of Puerto Rico and Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico at their assemblies.
In March 1948, the elected Puerto Rican Senate, controlled by the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín, who would become the first native Puerto Rican elected to colonial governorship in 1949 and the first governor of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952, approved the Gag Law 53 of 1948 (Ley de La Mordaza de 53 of 1948), which was signed into law in June by appointed governor Jesús T. Piñero, who became the first and only native Puerto Rican appointed to colonial governorship in 1946.
Similar to the anti-communist law passed in the U.S. in 1940, the Smith Act, which forbade any attempts to “advocate, abet, advise, or teach” the violent overthrow or destruction of the U.S. government, Puerto Rico’s gag law of 1948, made it a crime to own or display a Puerto Rican flag, to sing a patriotic tune, to speak or write of independence, or meet with anyone, or hold any assembly in favor of independence.[40] Carrying a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US $10,000 (equivalent to $127,000 in 2023), or both, the law aimed to discourage and suppress organized opposition against the elected American-allied government of Puerto Rico, specifically resistance from armed nationalist militant members of the radical pro-independence Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, which in 1950, incited not only by the aforementioned gag order, but also by the approval of the creation of the commonwealth by U.S. Congress and President Truman with the passing of Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950, executed a coordinated series of insurrectionist attacks, which included the attempted assassinations of elected governor Muñoz Marín at La Fortaleza in Old San Juan and President Truman at Blair House in Washington, D.C.[41][42]
Soldier removes Puerto Rican flag from town hall after the Jayuya Uprising, one of a series of coordinated insurrectionist attacks carried out by militant nationalists in 1950
After several failed attempts by the colonial elected government of Puerto Rico in 1916, 1922, 1927 and 1932 to formalize the flag of 1895 as the flag of Puerto Rico, in July 1952, with the establishment of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Free Associated State of Puerto Rico'), the elected governor Luis Muñoz Marín and legislature finally adopted the flag of 1895 as the island’s standard, proclaiming it the official flag of Puerto Rico in the ''Ley del 24 Julio de 1952'' (“Law of July 24, 1952”) as follows:[11]
Law 1. Section 1. The flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be the one traditionally known heretofourth as the Puerto Rican Flag and which is rectangular in form, with five alternate horizontal stripes, three red and two white, and having next to the staff a blue equilateral triangle with a white five-pointed star. On the vertical side this triangle stretches along the entire width of the flag.
Some interpreted the adoption of the flag as a deliberate ploy by Muñoz Marín to neutralize the pro-independence movement within his own party.[43] For nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, having the flag represent the new American-allied government was a desecration, while the Puerto Rican Independence Party accused the government of "corrupting beloved symbols."[44]
Specifications
In the law of Puerto Rico, the only two mentions of the dimensions and colors of the flag are found in the “Ley del 24 Julio de 1952” (“Law of July 24, 1952”):
Law 1. Section 1. The flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be the one traditionally known heretofourth as the Puerto Rican Flag, and which is rectangular in form, with five alternate horizontal stripes, three red and two white, and having next to the staff a blue equilateral triangle with a white five-pointed star. On the vertical side this triangle stretches along the entire width of the flag.
and in the "Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of August 3, 1995" (Spanish: "Reglamento sobre el Uso en Puerto Rico de la Bandera del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico del 3 de Agosto de 1895):
Regulation 5282. Article 3, B. The flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is what has traditionally been known until now as the Puerto Rican flag. Its shape is rectangular, with horizontal stripes, alternating, three red and two white, and it has next to the staff a blue equilateral triangle with a white five-pointed star. This triangle, on the vertical side, covers the entire width of the flag.
Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of August 3, 1995[1]
Dimensions
Both documents describe the basic design of the flag, but do not provide exact dimensions on the size of its rectangular shape, horizontal stripes, and upright five-pointed star. While the exact proportions of the flag have not been established by law, the most commonly used and accepted layout of the flag is as follows:
At a length-to-width ratio of 2:3, the shape of the flag is rectangular, one and a half times longer than wide, composed of five alternating horizontal stripes, three red and two white, each one being one-fifth of the flag width, and an equilateral blue triangle on the hoist side vertically covering the entire width of the flag and bearing a white, upright, centered five-pointed star of which diameter is at least one-third and at most half of the flag width.
Most representations of the flag follow these specifications, with the only component likely to vary being the star, which is not unusual to be displayed bigger than the most commonly used size of two-fifths (2⁄5) of the flag width.
Construction sheet of La Monoestrellada and the various dimensions of its star with a diameter of one-third (1⁄3), two-fifths (2⁄5; the most commonly used), nine-twentieths (9⁄20), and one-half (1⁄2), all relative to the width (hoist) of the flag
Colors
Both documents describe the flag as having “red” and “white” alternating horizontal stripes, a “blue” equilateral triangle, and a “white” five-pointed lone star, but do not specify any official color shades. While the exact colors of the Puerto Rican flag have not been established by law, below are the most commonly used color shades. The intensity of both blue and red color shades changes to keep them complementary to each other.
The light blue flag of Puerto Rico has become increasingly popular in recent years. Today, representations of the flag vary, with some featuring a uranian blue color shade, matching the light blue color shade of one of only two original renditions of the first Puerto Rican flag, the Lares flag, while others use more colorful light blue shades, including vivid sky blue and deep sky blue. The light blue flag of Puerto Rico is most commonly displayed in following color shades:
Uranian blue variation of light blue flag of Puerto Rico (1895) matching the colors of the light blue Lares flag, one of two original versions of the flag available today, uses the following color shades:
Vivid sky blue variation of light blue flag of Puerto Rico (1895), perhaps the most popular modern interpretation of the light blue flags seen today, uses the following color shades:
In 1898, the first two descriptions of the design of the flag of Puerto Rico appeared in “Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano, 1895-1998” (“Memoir of the work accomplished by the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, 1895-1898”), a recollection on the activities of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico arranged by the Cuban Revolutionary Party, in which not only a list of the acts carried out by the Puerto Rican committee is provided by the Cuban party, but also an account of the committee’s actions written by Robert H. Todd, senior committee member, and endorsed by José Julio Henna, president of the committee, both of whom where present at the adoption of the flag in New York City in 1895, is included. Both mentions of the flag in the memoir, describe it as being the Cuban flag with inverted colors, identifying its alternating stripes as “red” and “white,” triangle as “blue,” and lone star as “white.” No color shades were specified in the memoir.[13][31][32]
In 1952, when the newly established, elected commonwealth government adopted the flag of 1895 as the island’s official standard, it identified by law its horizontal stripes as “red” and “white,” triangle as “blue,” and lone star as “white,” but it did not specify any official color shades. However, Luis Muñoz Marín, the architect and first governor of the commonwealth, and his administration, used a dark shade of blue for the triangle of the flag, matching the navy blue of the American flag.[2]
Some historians have argued that the dark shade of blue of the triangle unveiled in 1952 by the American-allied commonwealth government was deliberately chosen to distance the flag from its pro-independence revolutionary originators, who are claimed by some historians to have used light blue for their Lares flag in 1868 and for their new flag in 1895, and link it to the similarly striped American flag through a shared shade of dark blue with the aim of conveying a message of harmony between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Others have argued that the use of a dark blue shade matching the navy blue of the American flag was an innocent mistake arising from practical and economical need.[4]
In 1995, the government of Puerto Rico issued a regulation regarding the use of the flag in which it once again identified the flag as having “red” and “white” horizontal stripes, a “blue” triangle, and a “white” lone star but did not specify any official color shades.[1]
In early 2000s, a selected group of Puerto Rican historians gathered at the Ateneo Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Athenaeum), one of the island’s principal cultural institutions, proclaimed light blue as the original shade of blue of the triangle of the flag adopted by members of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico in 1895, citing as evidence contemporaneous but secondaryoral sources identifying light blue as the triangle’s original color shade, which their sources claim was the same shade used on the flag of Lares, the revolutionary flag many of said same members rallied around during the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt in 1868.[4]
However, the original color shades used for both the flag of 1895 and the Lares flag of 1868 remain unclear, as there is no written primary source account specifying the original color shades of either flags. One of the oldest known color depictions of the flag of 1895, appearing on a postcard in circulation between 1910 and 1920, features a medium shade of blue, and the only two surviving original renditions of the flag of Lares feature different shades of blue: one uses light blue and the other dark blue.[14][15][16]
Original revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares featuring a light blue shade (1868)
Original revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares featuring a dark blue shade (1868)
One of the oldest color depictions of the flag of Puerto Rico featuring a medium blue shade (1910-1920)
Some historians have added that the shade of blue originally adopted in 1895 was light to medium blue, as that was the contemporaneous shade of the stripes of the Cuban flag. However, there is disagreement among historians as to what was the original shade of blue of the Cuban flag, with some claiming it was light blue, while others say it was the current turquí blue, or the navy blue of the American and French flags, the flags of the two countries which political revolutions in the late 18th century inspired the Latin American independence movements of the 19th century, starting with Haiti in 1791.[13]
To this day, the color shades of the flag of Puerto Rico have never been officially determined by law in Puerto Rico, making all shades of blue legally legitimate and acceptable.
Therefore, it is common to see the triangle of the flag of Puerto Rico with different color shades of blue, ranging from the lighter sky blues to the medium azure blues and darker navy blues. Usually, but not always, the shade of blue displayed on the flag is used to show preference on the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status, with light blue, the shade presumably used by pro-independence revolutionaries in 1868 and 1895, representing independence from the U.S., dark blue, the shade used by pro-American functionaries since 1952, representing statehood or integration into the U.S. as a state, and medium blue, the shade in-between pro-independence light blue and pro-statehood dark blue most commonly used by the government and people since the 1990s, representing the current intermediary status of commonwealth as an unincorporated and organized U.S. territory.
Current 189th Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi (PNP, 2020-) stands with a dark blue La Monoestrellada
182nd Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Rosselló (PNP, 1993-2001) stands with a medium blue La Monoestrellada
Symbolism of designs
First indigenous design
In 1868, Puerto Rican pro-independence leader Ramón Emeterio Betances, urged Mariana Bracetti to knit the revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares), the flag of the first of two short-lived revolts against Spanish rule in the island, using as design the quartered flag of the First Dominican Republic and the lone star of the Cuban flag with the aim of promoting Betances’ idea of uniting the three neighboring Spanish-speaking Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic into an Antillean Confederation for the protection and preservation of their sovereignty and interests.
According to Puerto Rican poet Luis Lloréns Torres, the white cross stands for the yearning for homeland redemption, the red rectangles for the blood poured by the heroes of the revolt, and the white star for liberty and freedom.[45][46]
Current design
In December 1895, around fifty-eight exiled Puerto Rican revolutionaries, many of them veterans of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt, re-established the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico under the name Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party) as part of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City, where they continued to advocate for Puerto Rican independence from Spain with the support of their Cuban companions, including Cuban national hero José Martí. Determined to affirm the union of the Cuban and Puerto Rican struggle for national independence and fight against Spanish colonialism and imperialism into a single, common cause, the committee, with the knowledge and approval of their fellow Cuban revolutionaries, unanimously adopted the Cuban flag with colors inverted as the new flag to represent an independent Republic of Puerto Rico, replacing the Lares flag, which had been used by revolutionaries as the flag of a prospective independent Puerto Rico since their attempt at self-determination in 1868, but was eventually rejected, as it represented a failed revolt.[11]
In “Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano, 1895-1998” (“Memoir of the work accomplished by the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, 1895-1898”), a memoir arranged by the Partido Revolucionario Cubano(Cuban Revolutionary Party) with a written account by members of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico Robert H. Todd and José Julio Henna, the new Puerto Rican flag is described as being the Cuban flag with inverted colors: white and red stripes and a blue triangle with a white star in the center.[13][31][32]
There is no written account by members of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee detailing the symbolism of the flag adopted in 1895. However, according to some historians, the committee proclaimed that the blue triangle stands for the sky and coastal waters, the three red stripes for the spilled blood of brave warriors, the two white stripes for victory and peace after gaining independence, and the white star for the island of Puerto Rico.[5][47] In the absence of a direct explanation from the committee members, other historians have concluded that like the Cuban flag, the three colors of the flag and the three points of the triangle represent the republican ideals of freedom, equality, and fraternity proclaimed in the French Revolution.[11]
In August 1995, the government of Puerto Rico, in accordance with the ''Ley del 24 Julio de 1952'' (“Law of July 24, 1952”), which stipulated the adoption of the flag of 1895 as the official flag of Puerto Rico, issued a regulation regarding the use of the flag titled "Reglamento sobre el Uso en Puerto Rico de la Bandera del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" ("Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico"), in which it defined the symbolism in Spanish as:
"Regulación 5282. Artículo 3, C. La estrella es símbolo del Estado Libre Asociado y reposa sobre un triángulo azul que en sus tres ángulos evoca la integridad de la forma republicana de gobierno representada por tres poderes: el legislativo, el ejecutivo y el judicial.
Las tres franjas rojas simbolizan la sangre vital que nutre a esos tres poderes de Gobierno, los cuales desempeñan funciones independientes y separadas. La libertad del individuo y los derechos del hombre mantienen en equilibrio a los poderes y su misión esencial la representan dos franjas blancas."
Reglamento sobre el Uso en Puerto Rico de la Bandera del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico del 3 de Agosto de 1995[1]
"Regulation 5282. Article 3, C. The star is symbol of the Commonwealth and rests on a blue triangle that in its three angles evokes the integrity of the republican form of government represented by three powers: the legislative, the executive and the judicial.
The three red stripes symbolize the vital blood that nourishes those three governing powers, which perform independent and separate functions. The freedom of the individual and the rights of men keep the powers in balance and their essential mission is represented by two white stripes."
Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of 3 August 1995[1]
The original symbolism of the flag, said to have been described by the pro-independence Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in 1895, is different from the one believed to have been in place since 1952 but only officially stipulated in the regulation of 1995. Whereas the original alludes to the revolutionary roots of the flag with references to “brave warriors” and “gaining independence,” the latest not only implies the dignity and nobility of the established commonwealth government that adopted and retains the flag with references to “integrity,” “freedom,” “rights of men,” and “balance,” but it also implicates adherence and allegiance to said government when it mentions “the vital blood that nourishes those three governing powers.”
Symbol of pride
Among the many occasions in which the flag has been used as a symbol of pride was when the flag arrived in South Korea during the Korean War. On August 13, 1952, while the men of Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment (United States) were being attacked by enemy forces on Hill 346, the regiment unfurled the flag of Puerto Rico for the first time in history in a foreign combat zone. During the ceremony Regimental Chaplain Daniel Wilson stated the following:[48][49]
"Grant us Thy Peace and Power in this conflict against aggression and tyranny. Show us in Thy purpose Peace for all the men in the world. We dedicate this flag of the Associated Free State of Puerto Rico in Thy name."
"How beautiful is our flag, how it looks next to the stars and the stripes! Let the communists on the other side of the Yokkok River see it and listen to me those who understand Spanish if these words reach your trenches."
Two unidentified Puerto Rican members of the 65th Infantry pose with La Monoestrellada in South Korea during the Korean War (1952)
La Monoestrellada aboard the Discovery Space Shuttle (2009)
The flag is also the subject of the song "Qué Bonita Bandera" ("What a Beautiful Flag") written in 1968 and made popular by Puerto Rican folksinger Florencio "Ramito" Morales Ramos. Astronaut Acabá requested that the crew be awakened on March 19, 2009 (Day 5 in space), with this song, as performed by José González and Banda Criolla. In 2012, Plena and Bomba Puerto Rican singing group Plena Libre released a modern rendition of the song.[53]
Symbol of protest
On various occasions the flag has been used as a symbol of defiance and protest. In the 1954 armed attack of the United States House of Representatives, a violent, terrorizing protest against American rule of the island, Puerto Rican nationalist leader Lolita Lebrón and three other fellow members of Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico unfurled the flag of Puerto Rico as they shouted "¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!" ("Long live Free Puerto Rico!").[54]
Puerto Rican nationalist Lolita Lebrón being led away by police officers following her attack and arrest
On November 5, 2000, Alberto De Jesus Mercado, known as Tito Kayak, and five other activists, protesting against the use of the island of Vieques as a bombing range by United States Navy, stepped onto the top deck of the Statue of Liberty in New York City and placed a large Puerto Rican flag on the statue's forehead, reenacting an earlier protest carried out on October 25, 1977 by Puerto Rican nationalists, who were demanding the release of four fellow nationalists serving time for their armed attack of the United States House of Representatives in 1954.[55]
Black flag
Since 2016, an all-black rendition of the flag of Puerto Rico has been a symbol of Puerto Rican independence, resistance, and civil disobedience. The origin of the flag traces back to the early morning of July 4, 2016, when a group of female members of “Artistas Solidarixs y en Resistencia” (“Artists in Solidarity and Resistance”) repainted a popular and well-known mural of the original red, white, and light blue (presumed by historians) flag, on the door of 55 Calle San José in Old San Juan, with stark black and white to symbolize that the flag is in mourning over the passing of the law Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which had just been signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Black La Monoestrellada (2016)
The Act established the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico to manage the island's chronic, crippling debt. The Board, infamously known by Puerto Ricans as “La Junta,” has been heavily criticized by many as an act of blatant colonialism as it claims to be at the service of the Puerto Rican people, but it is not based in Puerto Rico and it is not electorally accountable to the voters of Puerto Rico. The black flag has become a common symbol of protest and defiance in Puerto Rico.[56][57]
Black La Monoestrellada at the Solidarity with Puerto Rico Rally in Chicago (2018)
Olympics flag
At the Summer Olympics 1948, the Puerto Rican team marched behind a white flag which had the Great Seal of Puerto Rico in the center and the legend "PUERTO RICO" in red above it. The current flag of Puerto Rico was legalized during the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the Puerto Rican team began to use it immediately.[58][59][60][61]
Olympic flag of Puerto Rico (1948–52)
Historical flags
Flags flown on Puerto Rican soil prior to the American intervention of 1898:
Flag of Spain from 1785 to the end of their rule in 1898.
Spanish–American War flag, flag of the Batallón Provisional No. 3 de Puerto Rico (3rd Provisional Battalion of Puerto Rico)
Flag of Puerto Rico adopted in 1895 by pro-independence Puerto Rican revolutionaries exiled in New York City, featuring a light blue shade, presumed by some historians to have been its original color shade of blue based on the light blue flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt
Similar flag
In the 1950s, Puerto Rico contacted Norway's Foreign Ministry in an attempt to have Norwegian transport and shipping company Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskap (DSD) stop using a flag that has a significant likeness to Puerto Rico's flag. The company has claimed that their flag has been in use since at least 1903, and that although the design of the Puerto Rican flag is eight years older than their flag, it was not officially approved by the Puerto Rican government as a national flag until 1952. Norway has not legally challenged the shipping company's position that their flag is older than Puerto Rico's. The shipping company's flag is still in use as of 2023[update].[62]
House flag of Norwegian shipping company DSD is like the Puerto Rican flag but with a tilted star
^ ab"Porto Rico United States Possesion, Postcard (1900-1920)". La Biblioteca Digital Puertorriqueña del Sistema de Bibliotecas del Recinto de Río Piedras de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). July 14, 2006. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^"PEREZ MORIS (José Manuel)". Escritores y Artistas Asturianos de Constantino Suárez “Españolito”. (in Spanish). Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^Popular Expression and National Identity in Puerto Rico: The Struggle for Self, Community, and Nation; by Lillian Guerra; Pg. 200; Publisher: University Press of Florida; 1st edition (June 30, 1998); ISBN0-8130-1594-4; ISBN978-0-8130-1594-1
^ abcd”Acta Tercera” del 22 de diciembre de 1895, en Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano, 1895-1898, Author: Partido Revolucionario Cubano; pp. 157.; Publisher: New York City: Imprenta de A. W. Howes, 1898.
^ abcd“Memoria de la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano,” septiembre de 1898, en Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano 1895-1898, Author: Todd, Roberto H. y Henna, José Julio; pp. 5.; Publisher: New York City: Imprenta de A. W. Howes, 1898.
^Antonio Vélez Alvarado, amigo y colaborador consecuente de Martí y Betances, Author: Dávila, Ovidio; pp. 11-13.; Publisher: San Juan, P.R. : Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (Institute of Puerto Rican Culture), 2002. (in Spanish)
^Puerto Rico, Welcome to Puerto Rico, Retrieved February 25, 2009
^ ab"Letter Col. Juan C. Cordero to Brig. Gen. Robert M. Bathurst, September 5, 1952." A transcription of said document is currently available at www.valerosos.com.
^Vieques: A Photographically Illustrated Guide to the Island, Its History and Its Culture; by Gerald Singer; page 183;
Publisher: Sombrero Publishing Company;
ISBN0-9641220-4-9; ISBN978-0-9641220-4-8
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