Flag of Puerto Rico
Five horizontal stripes, alternately red and white, with a blue triangle at the hoist holding a white five-pointed star.
What the flag means
The white star stands for the island and the triangle's three sides for the three branches of government. Blue is the sky and coastal waters, red the blood shed by warriors, and white liberty, victory and peace.
History
On 22 December 1895 the Puerto Rico Revolutionary Committee in New York adopted the design, the Cuban flag with its colours reversed. Credit for it is disputed between Francisco Gonzalo Marín and Antonio Vélez Alvarado. Displaying the flag in public was a felony from 10 December 1898, and the Gag Law of 1948 made it a crime until the law was repealed in 1957. A law of 24 July 1952 made it the official flag of the Commonwealth.
No law sets the shade of blue. A 2022 bill to make medium blue the official shade failed in the Senate.
Flags that look like this one
Mirror images. Cuba has blue stripes and a red triangle; Puerto Rico has red stripes and a blue triangle.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Flag of Puerto Rico
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.
