The flag of Puerto Rico (), officially the Flag of the Commonwealth of 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, sharp, upright, five-pointed white star in the center. The white star stands for the archipelago and island, the three sides of the triangle for the three branches of the government, the blue for the sky and coastal waters, the red for the blood shed by warriors, and the white for liberty, victory, and peace. The flag is popularly known as the Monoestrellada (Monostarred), meaning having star, a single star, or a lone star. 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 main island, intending to establish a free and independent "Republic of Puerto Rico" under the Bandera del Grito de Lares (Grito de Lares Flag), commonly known as the bandera de Lares (Lares flag). Marking the establishment of a national consciousness for the first time in Puerto Rico, it is recognized as the first flag of the archipelago and island.
In December 1895, 27 years after the failed revolt in the municipality of Lares, members of the committee, in partnership with fellow Cuban rebels exiled in New York City, replaced the Lares flag with the current design as the new revolutionary flag to represent an independent Puerto Rico. Based on the flag of Cuba, the standard of the Cuban War of Independence against Spain, its adoption symbolized the strong bonds existing between Cuban and Puerto Rican revolutionaries and the united independence struggles of Cuba and Puerto Rico as the last two remaining territories of the Spanish Empire in the Americas since 1825.
The Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico identified the colors of the flag as red, white, and blue but failed to specify any shade, leading to an ongoing debate about the tonality of the color blue. Contemporaneous secondary oral sources claimed that the light blue used on the Lares flag was retained. However, the only Lares flag authenticated by a written primary source from 1872 features a dark blue. Moreover, primary sources from 1895 and 1897 have also established that the original color adopted and used by members of the committee was a dark blue. Despite the debate, the independence movement of Puerto Rico adopted light blue as the color of the flag, after it was first introduced in 1967.
In March 1897, the flag was flown during the Intentona de Yauco (Attempted Coup of Yauco) revolt, the second and last assault against Spanish rule before the start of the invasion, occupation, and annexation of Puerto Rico by the U.S. during the Spanish-American War in July 1898. The public display of the flag was outlawed throughout the first half of the 20th century.
In July 1952, it was adopted as the official flag of Puerto Rico with the establishment of the current political status of commonwealth, after several failed attempts were made by the insular elected government in the prior decades. The colors were identified by law as red, white, and blue, but the shades were not specified. However, the newly formed administration of Governor Luis Muñoz MarÃÂn used a dark blue matching that of the American flag as the de facto shade.
In August 1995, a regulation confirmed the colors but did not specified any shade. With its promulgation, medium blue began to be used by the people as the de facto shade, replacing dark blue. In August 2022, an amendment bill was unsuccessfully introduced in the Puerto Rican Senate which would have established the medium blue on the current flag, a so-called azul royal (royal blue), as the official shade.
It is common to see the equilateral triangle of the flag with different shades of blue, as no specific one has been made official by law. Occasionally, the shade displayed is used to show preference on the issue of the political status, with light blue, presumably used by pro-independence rebels in 1868, representing independence and sovereigntism, dark blue, widely used by the government since 1952, representing statehood, and medium blue, most commonly used by the people since the 1995, representing the current intermediary status of unincorporated territory.
The flag of Puerto Rico ranked seventh out of 72 entries in a poll regarding flags of subdivisions of the U.S. and Canada conducted by the North American Vexillological Association in 2001.
The introduction of a flag in Puerto Rico can be traced back to November 19, 1493, when Christopher Columbus landed on the western shores of the main island, and with the flag appointed to him by the Spanish Crown, claimed the island, originally known by its native TaÃÂno people as Borikén, in the name of Spain, calling it San Juan Bautista (Saint John Baptist) in honor of prophet John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus Christ. Columbus wrote in his logbook that on 12 October 1492 his fleet carried the royal standard of the Crown of Castile, representing the Spanish Monarchy, and La Capitana ("the captain"), the expeditionary ensign of the explorer, which featured, on a white background, a green cross in the center and a green 'F' and 'Y' crowned with golden, open royal crowns for Ferdinand II of Aragon and Ysabella I of Castille, the Catholic Monarchs of a unified Spain.
Conquistadores under the command of Juan Ponce de León, the first European explorer and governor of Puerto Rico, proceeded to conquer and settle the island in 1508, displacing, enslaving, and killing the native TaÃÂno people. They carried the royal standard of the Crown of Castile, the emblem representing the Spanish Monarchy, and the Cross of Burgundy, the military standard representing the Spanish Empire, the latter of which continues to be flown on the Spanish-built fortifications in Puerto Rico, most notably on Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristóbal.
In 1868, Puerto Rican pro-independence leader Ramón Emeterio Betances urged Eduviges Beauchamp Sterling to sew and embroider the revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares), the standard of the first of two short-lived revolts against Spanish rule in the main island, using as design the quartered flag of the First Dominican Republic, which was inspired by the Haitian and French flags, and based on the regimental flags of the Kingdom of France, and the lone star of the Cuban flag of the Grito de Yara (Cry of Yara) revolt at the sugar plantation and mill of La Demajagua in Cuba.
The fusion of the Dominican and Cuban flags to make the Lares flag was aimed at promoting the union of the neighboring Spanish-speaking Greater AntillesâÂÂthe single-nation islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the two-nation island of HispaniolaâÂÂinto an Antillean Confederation for the protection and preservation of their sovereignty and interests.
In 1868, after the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt, Francisco RamÃÂrez Medina, having been sworn in as the first president of Puerto Rico by the revolutionaries, intended to proclaim the Lares flag as the national flag of the free and independent "Republic of Puerto Rico." Marking the establishment of a national consciousness for the first time in Puerto Rico, it is recognized as the first flag of the archipelago and island.
Only one flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt and independent "Republic of Puerto Rico" has been authenticated as original by written primary sources. The flag is quartered by a centered white cross, with two deep red squares on the fly side and two dark blue squares on the hoist side, the top of which bears a tiled, sharp, centered, five-pointed white star.
In 1868, the flag was captured by the Spanish leader in charged of the repression against the revolutionaries, Colonel Manuel Iturriaga, after it was discovered buried in one of two wooden boxes alongside hundreds of cartridges for rifles on the coffee farm of a rebel named José Antonio Hernández in the Piedra Gorda barrio (then known as Palomar) of Camuy, a town immediately to north of Lares.
In 1872, Spanish telegrapher and journalist José Manuel Pérez Moris, a contemporary who had migrated to Puerto Rico from Cuba in 1869, described the flag in his chronicle about the revolt, Historia de la Insurrección de Lares (History of the Insurrection of Lares), as follows: which, translated in English, reads as:
In 1908, after the death of Iturriaga in Spain, the flag was donated by his son to the Museo de ArtillerÃÂa (Museum of the Artillery) in Madrid, alongside a copy of Historia de la Insurrección de Lares (History of the Insurrection of Lares) autographed by Pérez Moris, who had dedicated the book to Iturriaga. The flag was later transferred to the Museo del Ejército (Museum of the Army) in Madrid.
In 1931, Spanish-Puerto Rican historian Enrique Tomás Blanco Géigel described the flag in an article for the magazine Alma Latina titled La Bandera de Puerto Rico (The Flag of Puerto Rico). A picture of the second graduating class of the law school at the University of Puerto Rico holding a replica of the flag is featured in the publication. BlancoâÂÂs description of the flag is as follows:
which, translated in English, reads as:
In 1970, Puerto Rican scholar and head of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture at the University of Puerto Rico, Ricardo AlegrÃÂa, requested and received pictures of the flag from Spanish historian Juan Manuel Zapatero at the (Museum of the Army) in Madrid. However, AlegrÃÂa did not produce any official documentation of the flag.
Since 2010, the flag has been exhibited in Toledo, Spain, which is where the Museum of the Army relocated. In 2020, Luis Sorando Muzás, expert in vexilology and advisor to the Museum of the Army, published the flag as part of a catalog on the flags and banners in the museum.
In 2023, Puerto Rican investigative historian and founder of the Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico (ADNPR) (National Digital Archive of Puerto Rico), Joseph Harrison Flores, described the flag as "la verdadera bandera de Lares" ("the real flag of Lares"). In his book La Indentidad de Brazo de Oro ("The Identity of the Golden Arm"), Harrison Flores identified the flag as the original one created by the revolutionary forces of the âÂÂRepublic of Puerto Ricoâ that was to be born from the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt in 1868, as its authenticity is proven by written primary sources.
A second flag claimed to have been used during the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt is in the possession of the University of Puerto Rico. While widely accepted as the original flag of the revolt and independent "Republic of Puerto Rico," the flag has not only never been authenticated by written primary sources, but it has also been discredited as a forgery. The 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 tiled, centered, five-pointed white star.
In 1954, the flag, a poster of the revolutionaries, and a map of the main island depicting military operational plans for the revolt were acquired by the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico in RÃÂo Piedras, Puerto Rico from Fordham University in New York City. With the arrival of the flag and supporting documents, the director of the museum, scholar Ricardo AlegrÃÂa, prepared a press release, which is the only document available that explains the supposed origins of the flag. According to AlegrÃÂa, the flag was taken from the altar of the San José Parish in Lares by Cabo Rojo mayor, Captain José de Perignat, who kept it until his family donated it to Fordham University.
In 1937, the flag was offered for sale to the government of the Dominican Republic. After his evaluation of the flag, Robert H. Todd, Puerto Rican revolutionary leader who was a member of Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico, presented his findings in an El Mundo article titled "Han intentado vender en Santo Domingo una supuesta bandera de Laresâ ("They have tried to sell a supposed Lares flag in Santo Domingo"). Todd dismissed the flag as fake, labeling it "apócrifa" ("apocryphal"). The Dominican Academy of History agreed with Todd's conclusion that "la bandera obra de la incoerente tradiciónâ¦no resiste una sola de las pruebas a que se le somete" ("The flag, the work of inconsistent tradition...does not withstand a single one of the tests to which it is subjected").
Since 1954, the content of the press release by AlegrÃÂa has been popularly elevated to a historic fact by subsequent repetition in textbooks, essays, political speeches, and commemorative acts. However, in 2023, Puerto Rican investigative historian and founder of the Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico (ADNPR) (National Digital Archive of Puerto Rico), Joseph Harrison Flores, explained in his book La Indentidad de Brazo de Oro ("The Identity of the Golden Arm") that while the account presented by AlegrÃÂa is preeminently established in the collective memory of the people of Puerto Rico, there is no documentary evidence to authenticate the flag nor its history.
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.
In 1873, following the abdication of Amadeo I of Spain, and the overthrow of Monarchy for a Republic, the Spanish government issued a new flag for Puerto Rico. The provincial flag resembled the quartered Lares flag, with the difference that it featured the Spanish colors: all four squares in red, and the cross in yellow with the coat of arms of Puerto Rico in its center. The flags of Spain 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 SpanishâÂÂAmerican War.
Spanish-Puerto Ricans carried the war flag of the 3rd Battalion of Puerto Rico in the island, but most commonly in Cuba during the Cuban War of Independence against Spain between 1895 and 1898. The flag is in the shape and colors of the Spanish flag, with two equal red stripes on either side and a larger yellow stripe in the center, which contains the coat of arms of Spain with the text BATALLON PROVISIONAL DE PUERTO RICO Nð 3 (PROVISIONAL BATTALION OF PUERTO RICO No. 3) around it. Puerto Rico and Cuba became possessions of the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War of 1898, thus ending more than 400 years of Spanish rule on both islands.
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 Martàand 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 SpainâÂÂs once extensive American empire since 1825.
Revolutionaries from Cuba and Puerto Rico not only shared their exile in camaraderie and solidarity, but they also honorably fought and died together in battlefields across Cuba during the war of independence of the island, with approximately 2,000 Puerto Ricans falling in action, including Captain Francisco Gonzalo MarÃÂn Shaw. Puerto Ricans also made strategic contributions in battles led by Generals Juan RÃÂus Rivera and José Semidei RodrÃÂguez, Colonels Juan OrtÃÂz Quiñones and Epifanio Rivera, and dozens of other Puerto Rican officers and troops who served and fought in the Cuban Liberation Army.
Determined to affirm the absolute union of the Cuban and Puerto Rican struggle for national independence 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 forty-nine fellow members gathered at the no longer existent Chimney Corner Hall in Manhattan, unanimously adopted the Cuban flag with colors inverted as the new revolutionary flag to represent a sovereign âÂÂRepublic of Puerto RicoâÂÂ, 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 RodrÃÂguez de TÃÂo, Puerto Rican poet, pro-independence leader, and committee member, who spent her later life exiled in liberated Cuba.
Consecrated by the spilled blood of the thousands of Puerto Ricans who had fought and died in Cuba during the war of independence, the new flag was described by Bentances, Padre de la Patria (Father of the Homeland), as "la sagrada bandera de la patria" ("the sacred flag of the homeland"). Following not only Betances, but also national heroes Martàand RuÃÂs Rivera, both of whom approved of the flag, pro-independence leaders from Puerto Rico, including Luis Muñoz Rivera, José De Diego, and Pedro Albizu Campos, revered the flag as a precious symbol representing the ideal of Patria y Libertad (Homeland and Liberty).
In Acta Tercera (Third Act) of Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano, 1895âÂÂ1998 (Memoir of the works accomplished by the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, 1895âÂÂ1898), 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 revolutionary Puerto Rican flag is described in Spanish as:
which, translated in English, reads as:
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:
which, translated in English, reads as:
The name of the designer of the newly created Puerto Rican flag does not appear in the chronicle.
The origin of the design remains contested between exiled Puerto Rican revolutionaries Francisco Gonzalo MarÃÂn Shaw and Antonio Vélez Alvarado.
Terreforte attributes the design to MarÃÂn Shaw, 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 MarÃÂn.
The original response of Terreforte in Spanish reads as:
which, translated in English, reads as:
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, most famously presented in El Centenario de la Adopción de la Bandera de Puerto Rico (The Centenary of the Adoption of the Flag of Puerto Rico) in 1996. According to the scholar, the origin of the flagâÂÂs design traces back to June 1892 when Vélez Alvarado suffered a momentary "optical illusion... as if by a 'rare color blindness,â 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 Martàat dinner party attended by revolutionaries, including MarÃÂn Shaw. MartÃÂ, 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. As such, the historian asserts that the flag of Puerto Rico was known to revolutionaries a couple of years before it was formally adopted in 1895.
Puerto Rican professor of history Armando MartàCarvajal has refuted DavilaâÂÂs findings based on the fact that none of his sources are primary sources. Carvajal contends that Martànever actually confirmed any of the claims made by Davila, explaining that Martàdid wrote on many occasions about the flag of Puerto Rico, but in these cases he was referring to the Lares flag, not to the new flag.
Unlike Carvajal, Cuban professor Avelino VÃÂctor Couceiro RodrÃÂguez supports DávilaâÂÂs findings, citing as evidence the same secondary written accounts used by Dávila, including the assertions made by historian Cayetano Coll Toste and lawyer José Coll CuchÃÂ, respected contemporaries who identified Vélez Alvarado as the original designer of the flag.'
In 1922, Coll Toste, the official historian of Puerto Rico between 1913 and 1927, wrote that it is said that the flag had been drawn by Antonio Vélez Alvarado.
In 1923, lawyer José Coll CuchÃÂ, son of Coll Toste, described the origins of the flag in El Nacionalismo en Puerto Rico (Nationalism in Puerto Rico) as follows:
which, translated in English, reads as:
As alluded by historians Dávila and Couceiro RodrÃÂguez, followers of Vélez Alvarado believe that he was the victim of a discrediting campaign aimed at undermining his reputation as the original designer of the flag. Vélez Alvarado had been commonly recognized as the Padre de la Bandera Puertorriqueña (Father of the Puerto Rican Flag) since the 1890s, but his status as the creator of the flag began to be questioned in the 1930s, after he became one of the founding members of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico and main supporters of the violent and terrorizing pro-independence struggle advocated by militant leader Albizu Campos.
Other historians have claimed that neither MarÃÂn Shaw or Vélez Alvarado designed the flag, attributing it instead to fellow Puerto Rican revolutionaries Manuel Besosa, whose daughter is claimed to have sown the flag presented at the adoption meeting, and Lola RodrÃÂguez 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 interrelationships between their exiled revolutionaries as:
which, translated in English, reads as:
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 (Cry of Lares) veteran José Gualberto Padilla. A year later, in 1897, Antonio Mattei Lluberas visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City to plan a revolt in the municipality of Yauco. He returned to Puerto Rico with the new revolutionary flag representing a prospective independent Puerto Rican republic. On March 24, 1897, a group of men led by Fidel Vélez and openly carrying the flag for the first time in Puerto Rico, unsuccessfully attacked the barracks of Spanish Civil Guard in 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.
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, 1952, the date of the establishment the commonwealth 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. 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 MarÃÂn, 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 served from 1946 to 1949 as the first and only native Puerto Rican appointed to colonial governorship.
Similar to the anti-communist law passed in the U.S. in 1940, the Smith Act, which forbade any attempts to âÂÂadvocate, abet, advise, or teachâ the violent overthrow or destruction of the U.S. government, Puerto RicoâÂÂs 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. Carrying a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US $10,000 (), 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 the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950, executed a coordinated series of insurrectionist attacks, which included the attempted assassinations of elected governor Muñoz MarÃÂn at La Fortaleza in Old San Juan and President Truman at Blair House in Washington, D.C.
Despite having been legalized with the establishment of the commonwealth in 1952, the display of the flag of Puerto Rico in the archipelago and island continued to be outlawed until 1957, when the gag law was ruled unconstitutional and was repealed on the basis that it violated freedom of speech within of the Constitution of Puerto Rico and the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
After several failed attempts by the colonial elected government of Puerto Rico in 1916, 1922, 1927 and 1932 to formalize the revolutionary flag of 1895 as the flag of Puerto Rico, in July 1952, with the establishment of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico (), the elected governor Luis Muñoz MarÃÂn and legislature finally adopted the flag of 1895 as the islandâÂÂs standard, proclaiming it the official flag of Puerto Rico in the Ley del 24 Julio de 1952 (Law of July 24, 1952) as follows:
Some interpreted the adoption of the flag as a deliberate ploy by Muñoz MarÃÂn to neutralize the pro-independence movement within his own party. 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."
In 1995, the flag was proclaimed again as the flag of Puerto Rico in the Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of August 3, 1995 (:
In 1868, Puerto Rican pro-independence leader Ramón Emeterio Betances, urged Eduvigis Beauchamp Sterling to sew the revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt, the emblem 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 Betancesâ 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 of homeland redemption, the red rectangles for the blood poured by the heroes of the revolt, and the white star for liberty and freedom. ItâÂÂs assumed that like the blue triangle of the revolutionary flag of 1895, the blue rectangles of the Lares flag stand for the sky and waters of the island.
In December 1895, around fifty 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 MartÃÂ.
Determined to affirm the strong bonds existing between Cuban and Puerto Rican revolutionaries, and the union of Cuban and Puerto Rican struggles for national independence and fights against Spanish colonialism, the committee, with the knowledge and approval of their fellow Cuban revolutionaries, unanimously adopted the Cuban flag with colors inverted as the new revolutionary flag to represent a sovereign âÂÂRepublic of Puerto RicoâÂÂ, 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.
In Memoria de los trabajos realizados por la Sección Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano, 1895âÂÂ1998 (Memoir of the work accomplished by the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, 1895âÂÂ1898), 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.
Consecrated by the spilled blood of the thousands of Puerto Ricans who had fought and died in Cuba during the war of independence, the new flag was described by Bentances, Padre de la Patria (Father of the Homeland), as "la sagrada bandera de la patria" ("the sacred flag of the homeland"). Following not only Betances, but also national heroes Martàand RuÃÂs Rivera, both of whom approved of the flag, pro-independence leaders from Puerto Rico, including Luis Muñoz Rivera, José De Diego, and Pedro Albizu Campos, revered the flag as a precious symbol representing the ideal of Patria y Libertad (Homeland and Liberty).
Revolutionary colors
There is no direct written account by members of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee specifically detailing the symbolism of the colors 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. 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.
In August 1995, the commonwealth 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:
which, translated in English, reads as:
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 âÂÂbrave warriorsâ and âÂÂgaining independence,â the latest not only implies the dignity and nobility of the established commonwealth government that adopted and retains the flag with references to âÂÂintegrity,â âÂÂfreedom,â âÂÂrights of men,â and âÂÂbalance,â but it also implicates adherence and allegiance to said government when it mentions âÂÂthe vital blood that nourishes those three governing powers.âÂÂ
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:
The Commanding Officer Colonel Juan César Cordero Dávila was quoted saying the following:
On March 15, 2009, several Puerto Rican flags were aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during its flight into outer space. Joseph M. Acabá, Puerto Rican astronaut who was assigned to the crew of STS-119 as a Mission Specialist Educator, carried on his person the flag as a symbol of his Puerto Rican heritage. Acabá presented the 185th Governor Luis Fortuño and Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock with two of the flags during his visit in June 2009.
The flag is also the subject of the well-known 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.
On various occasions the flag has been used as a symbol of protest, defiance, or terror. 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 "áViva Puerto Rico Libre!" ("Long live Free Puerto Rico!").
On November 5, 2000, Alberto De Jesús 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.
In the law of Puerto Rico, the only two mentions of the dimensions of the flag are found in the Ley del 24 Julio de 1952 (Law of July 24, 1952):
and in the Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of August 3, 1995 (:
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:
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 sizes of one-third () and two-fifths () of the flag width.
In the law of Puerto Rico, the only two mentions of the colors of the flag are found in the Ley del 24 Julio de 1952 (Law of July 24, 1952):
and in the Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of August 3, 1995 (:
Both documents describe the flag as having âÂÂredâ and âÂÂwhiteâ alternating horizontal stripes, a âÂÂblueâ equilateral triangle, and a âÂÂwhiteâ 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.
Medium blue, or royal blue, flag of Puerto Rico (1995) uses the following color shades:
Dark blue, or navy blue, flag of Puerto Rico (1952), matching the colors of the dark blue original Lares flag, one of two original versions of the flag available today, uses the following color shades:
The light blue flag of Puerto Rico has become increasingly popular in recent years. Today, most representations of the flag feature a light sky blue color shade, matching the color of the surviving rendition of the Lares flag currently housed in the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico. The authenticity of this rendition has been called into question, though testimonies of oral tradition support its validity. It 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, 1895âÂÂ1998 (Memoir of the work accomplished by the Puerto Rico Section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, 1895âÂÂ1898), a recollection on the activities of the Puerto Rican committee arranged by the Cuban Revolutionary Party, in which not only a list of the acts carried out by the committee is provided by the Cuban party, but also an account of the committeeâÂÂs 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 âÂÂredâ and âÂÂwhite,â triangle as âÂÂblue,â and lone star as âÂÂwhite.â While the color shades were not specified in the memoir, two other primary sources, an oil painting paid for by the Cuban Revolutionary Party from 1895 and a bonus issued by the Betances Club (associated with the Puerto Rican committee) in Haiti from 1897, feature the and flag for an independent Puerto Rico in a dark blue.
The only original flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt authenticated by a written primary source is the one mentioned in Historia de la insurrección de Lares (History of the Lares insurrection), written by José Pérez Moris in 1872. Currently exhibited in the Museum of the Army in Toledo, Spain, the flag features a dark blue shade.
Presented by Puerto Rican investigative historian Joseph Harrison Flores in his book âÂÂLa historia de la bandera de Puerto Rico: Del conflicto a la certezaâ ("The History of the Puerto Rican Flag: From conflict to certainty"), two primary sources, an oil painting paid for by the Cuban Revolutionary Party from 1895 and a bonus issued by the Betances Club (associated with the Puerto Rican committee) in Haiti from 1897, feature the and flag for an independent Puerto Rico in a dark blue. It appears that most flags displayed in Puerto Rico during the first half of the 20th century featured a dark blue, including one used in the manifestations that resulted in the Ponce Massacre of 1937.
In 1952, when the newly established, elected commonwealth government adopted the revolutionary flag of 1895 as the islandâÂÂs official standard, it identified by law its horizontal stripes as âÂÂredâ and âÂÂwhite,â triangle as âÂÂblue,â and lone star as âÂÂwhite,â but it did not specify any official color shades. However, Luis Muñoz MarÃÂn, the architect and first governor of the commonwealth, and his administration, used a dark shade of blue, most commonly known as navy blue (Spanish: azul marino), matching that of the American flag, establishing it as the de facto shade.
Some historians have argued that the dark blue unveiled by the American-allied commonwealth government in 1952 was deliberately chosen to distance the flag from its pro-independence revolutionary originators, who are claimed to have used light blue for the Lares flag in 1868 and the current flag in 1895, and link it to the similarly striped American flag through a shared shade of blue, with the aim of conveying a message of harmony between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Others have argued that the use of an American-derived dark blue instead of a medium or light blue arose from practical and economical needs, as it was the shade most widely and readily available.
One of the oldest known color depictions of the revolutionary flag of 1895, appearing on a postcard in circulation between 1910 and 1920, features a medium shade of blue.
In 1995, the commonwealth government of Puerto Rico issued a regulation regarding the use of the flag, 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 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 shade. Since the regulationâÂÂs promulgation, the people have most commonly used a medium blue shade, widely known as royal blue (Spanish: azul real), as the de facto shade of blue. This shade has replaced dark blue as the most used color.
In August 2022, an amendment bill was unsuccessfully introduced in the Puerto Rican Senate which would have established the current medium blue, a so-called âÂÂazul royalâ ("royal blue"), as the official color of the flag.
In early 2000s, a selected group of Puerto Rican historians gathered at the Ateneo Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Athenaeum), one of the islandâÂÂs principal cultural institutions, proclaimed light blue, most commonly known as sky blue (Spanish: azul celeste), as the original shade of blue adopted by members of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico in 1895, citing as evidence contemporaneous but secondary oral sources identifying light blue as the original color shade, which their sources claim was the same shade used on the Lares flag, the revolutionary flag many of said same members rallied around during the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt in 1868.
However, the only authenticated original color shade used on the Lares flag is a dark blue. The dark blue flag of the revolt, which is exhibited at the Museum of the Army in Toledo, Spain, is mentioned in Historia de la insurrección de Lares (History of the Lares insurrection), a written primary source from 1872 by José Pérez Moris. The originality of the light blue flag of the revolt, which is exhibited at the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico, is in dispute, as there is no written primary source to authenticate it, with most historians recognizing it as a forgery, possibly made by the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico in the 1930s based on contemporaneous but secondary oral sources.
Despite the debate, the independence movement of Puerto Rico has adopted light blue as the color of the flag, after it was first introduced by Jorge Bird Fernández in 1967. Bird Fernández, a Puerto Rican elected president of the International Clubs Lions, as part of the annual assembly that was held in São Paulo, carried a flag of Puerto Rico featuring light blue to distinguish the Puerto Rican from that of the United States. Subsequently, the independence movement in Puerto Rico, starting with the organization Ejército Popular Boricua, adopted light blue as their representative color.
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 during the Cuban War of Independence. 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 to medium blue, while others say it was the current âÂÂazul turquÃÂâ (navy blue), which is based on the navy blue of the American and French flags, the flags of the two countries which republican political revolutions in the late 18th century inspired in great part the Latin American independence movements of the 19th century, starting with Haiti in 1791.
In August 2022, an amendment bill was unsuccessfully introduced in the Puerto Rican Senate which would have established the current medium blue, identified in the legislation as âÂÂazul royalâ ("royal blue"), as the official shade. Recognizing royal blue as the most used throughout time, the bill aimed to declare it the formal shade to settle the uncertainty and debate that has persisted in Puerto Rico due to a lack of specificity in Ley del 24 Julio de 1952 (Law of July 24, 1952), the law that formally established the standard as the official flag. According to the bill, the ongoing issue over the tonality of the color blue has the international community confused as to what is the correct shade of blue to be used on the flag representing Puerto Rico abroad.
To this day, the color shades of the flag of Puerto Rico have never been officially determined by law in Puerto Rico. Therefore, it is common to see the triangle of the flag with different color shades of blue, ranging from the lighter sky blues to the medium azure blues and darker navy blues. Occasionally, the shade of blue displayed on the flag is used to show preference on the issue of the political status, with light blue, the shade presumably used by pro-independence revolutionaries in 1868 and 1895, representing complete independence from the U.S. and sovereigntism or independence as a sovereign freely associated state with the U.S., dark blue, the shade widely used by government 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 people since the 1990s, representing the current intermediary status of unincorporated and organized territory of the U.S.
According to the law of Puerto Rico, all people present when the flag is raised, lowered, or passed in a parade, must stand up, look at the flag, and stay as such until it is completely raised, lowered, or carried away in passing. Men must take off their hat, and hold it with their right hand placed near the left shoulder with the right hand on the heart. Men without a hat and women must greet the flag by putting their right hand on the heart. The personnel of the armed forces must greet militarily.
The official salute to the flag must be recited on the following occasions:
The text of the official salute to the flag of Puerto Rico is as follows:
The use of flag of Puerto Rico is regulated by Reglamento sobre el Uso en Puerto Rico de la Bandera del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico del 3 de Agosto de 1995 (Regulation on the Use in Puerto Rico of the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of August 3, 1995). The regulation stipulates the proper use of the flag from the fourth to the twenty-eighth article, which are as follows:
Note: Good Friday is not considered a public holiday.
The text of the Official salute to the flag of Puerto Rico is: "I swear before the flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to honor the homeland it symbolizes, the people it represents, and the ideals it embodies of freedom, justice, and dignity." The official salute to the flag must be recited on the following occasions:
The historical progression of flags in Puerto Rico is as follows:
Each of the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico, including the islands of Culebra and Vieques, have adopted a flag which represents the region and its people. The flags contain coat of arms or images associated with the region, including birds, animals, or crops. Many pay tribute to the indigenous TaÃÂno people of Puerto Rico, who ruled the island before the European colonization. For example the flag of Utuado, features a Taino sun in honor of Cacique Agüeybaná or The Great Sun. Others honor the Spanish political, ancestral, and cultural roots of the island. For example, the flag of San Germán, honors Spain with a Spanish coat of arms.
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.
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 protesting Puerto Ricans as âÂÂLa Juntaâ ("The Board"), 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.
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. However, as a result of the Gag Law of 1948, which outlawed the display of the current flag of Puerto Rico in the archipelago and island, the Olympics flag continued to be use by the government in Puerto Rico until the law was repealed in 1957.
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 currently in use.