Flag of Puerto Rico

Flag origins

Puerto Rico's flag has five red and white stripes and a blue hoist triangle with a white star. The current official interpretation identifies the star with Puerto Rico, the triangle with the legislative, executive and judicial branches, red with the life sustaining those branches, and white with individual freedoms and human rights. Activists adopted the design in New York in 1895; it became the official flag in 1952.

Flag story

The resemblance to Cuba is deliberate: the meeting of 22 December 1895 recorded a flag shaped like Cuba's with red and blue reversed. Cuban and Puerto Rican independence activists were cooperating against Spanish rule. Several people have been credited with its initial design, including Francisco Gonzales Marin, Antonio Velez Alvarado and Manuel Besosa; it is more accurate to acknowledge competing accounts than name one undisputed designer.

Editorial notes and references

Edited by ABELHA WORKS. The English text translates the administrator-edited Japanese description. Legends should be distinguished from documented history. General reference links do not substantiate every statement in the text.

• Puerto Rico — general information on Wikipedia
• Japan MOFA: countries and regions (Japanese)

Report an error