Flag of Puerto Rico

The flag of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Bandera de Puerto Rico), officially the Flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Bandera del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Flag of the Free Associated State of Puerto Rico'),^[1] 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.^[5] The flag is popularly known as the Monoestrellada (Monostarred), 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 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).^[8] 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.^[9]

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.^[10][11]

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.^[12] Contemporaneous secondary oral sources claimed that the light blue used on the Lares flag was retained.^[4][13][11] However, the only Lares flag authenticated by a written primary source from 1872 features a dark blue.^[14][15][16] 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.^[17]

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.^[18][19] 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.^[2][10][20] However, the newly formed administration of Governor Luis Muñoz Marín 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.^[1] 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.^[21]

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.^[22]