Today is...
The Flag Of Puerto Rico
The origins of the current flag of Puerto Rico, adopted by
the commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952, can be traced to 1868, when
the first Puerto Rican "The Revolutionary
Flag of Lares", was conceived by Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances
and embroidered by the great Mariana "Brazos de Oro" Bracetti
and was used in the short-lived Puerto Rican revolt against
Spanish rule in the island,"El Grito de Lares".
Juan de Mata Terreforte, an exiled veteran of "El Grito
de Lares" and Vice-President of the Cuban Revolutionary
Committee, in New York City, adopted the flag of Lares as
official for Puerto Rico until 1895, when the current design,
modeled after the Cuban flag, was unveiled and adopted by
the 59 Puerto Rican exiles of the Cuban Revolutionary
committee, as a symbol of solidarity.
The new flag, which consisted of five equal horizontal
bands of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; a blue
isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bears a large,
white, five-pointed star in the center, was first flown in
Puerto Rico on March 24, 1897, during the "Yauco" revolt.
The use and display of the Puerto Rican flag was outlawed
and the only flags permitted to be flown in Puerto Rico were
the Spanish flag (1492 to 1898) and the flag of the United
States (1898 to 1952).
In 1952, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico adopted the same
flag design, which was unveiled in 1895 by the Puerto Rican
exiles within the Cuban Revolutionary Committee, as its
official standard. The color of the triangle that was used
by the administration of Luis Muñoz Marín was the dark blue.
In 1995, the government of Puerto Rico issued a regulation
regarding the use of the Puerto Rican flag titled: "Reglamento
sobre el Uso en Puerto Rico de la Bandera del Estado Libre
Asociado de Puerto Rico", in which the government specifies
the colors to be used but does not specify any official
color tones or shades.
Therefore, it is not uncommon to see the flag of Puerto Rico
with different shades of blue displayed in the island.
Several Puerto Rican flags were aboard the Space Shuttle
Discovery during its flight into outer space on March 15,
2009.
Lares revolutionary flag 1868 |
Today's flag - design of 1895 |
|