![]()
| |
Adopted | Current composition of the flag based on the current, government-recognized flag of the municipality of Lares, [1] the town that adopted the standard of the Grito de Lares revolt after it took place in its territory |
---|---|
![]()
| |
Adopted | Current composition of the flag based on the current flag of the municipality of Lares [1] and the Grito de Lares flag exhibited at the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico since 1954 |
![]() Original Grito de Lares Flag (1868) | |
Adopted | September 23, 1868 by members of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico; with no written primary sources authenticating it, its originality is disputed, with most historians recognizing it as a copy made by the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico in the 1930s based on contemporaneous but secondary oral sources [2] [3] |
![]()
| |
Adopted | Current composition of the flag based on the current flag of the municipality of Lares [1] and the Grito de Lares flag exhibited at the Museum of the Army in Spain since 2022 |
![]() Original Grito de Lares Flag (1868) | |
Use | ![]() |
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | September 23, 1868 by members of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico; mentioned in 1872 in the chronicle Historia de la insurrección de Lares by José Pérez Moris, [4] [5] its originality is authenticated by a written primary source [6] [7] |
Design | Consists of a large white Greek cross in the center that extends to all four sides of the flag, dividing it into four equal rectangles, two blue above, the left of which bears a large, sharp, upright, centered, five-pointed white star, and two red below; See specifications in Colors and Dimensions |
Designed by | Ramón Emeterio Betances in 1868; based on the Dominican flag by Juan Pablo Duarte in 1844, and Cuban flag by Venezuelan Narciso López and Cuban Miguel Teurbe Tolón in 1849 |
Part of a series on the |
Culture of Puerto Rico |
---|
![]() |
Society |
Topics |
Symbols |
The Grito de Lares flag (Spanish: Bandera del Grito de Lares), most commonly known as the Lares flag (Spanish: Bandera de Lares), represents the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt of 1868, the first of two short-lived rebellions against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico. It consists of a large white Greek cross in the center that extends to all four sides of the flag, dividing it into four equal rectangles, two blue above, the left of which bears a large, sharp, upright, centered, five-pointed white star, and two red below. The white star stands for liberty and freedom, the red rectangles for the blood poured by the heroes of the revolt, and the white cross for the yearning of homeland redemption. [8] [9] [10] Established in the municipality of Lares 27 years before revolutionaries adopted the current flag of Puerto Rico in New York City, the flag of the revolt is recognized as the first flag of the island. [11]
Today, the flag is the official flag of the municipality of Lares, location of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt in 1868. The flag, particularly its light blue version, is also most commonly used alongside the current flag of Puerto Rico to show support for Puerto Rican independence from the United States, rejecting other alternatives on the issue of Puerto Rico's political status, namely statehood or integration into the U.S. as a state, and the current intermediary status of commonwealth as an unincorporated and organized U.S. territory.
In September 1868, the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico launched the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt against Spanish rule in the island, carrying as their standard a flag conceived by pro-independence leader Ramón Emeterio Betances and embroidered by Mariana "Brazos de Oro" Bracetti with flag-making materials provided by Eduvigis Beauchamp Sterling. [12] Betances combined the quartered flag of the First Dominican Republic, inspired by the Haitian and French flags, and based on the regimental flags of the Kingdom of France, and the lone star on the flag of Cuba, inspired and based on the American flag, to create the Lares flag. The fusion of the Dominican and Cuban flags to make the Puerto Rican Lares flag was aimed at promoting the union of neighboring Spanish-speaking Greater Antilles—the single-nation islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the two-nation island of Hispaniola—into an Antillean Confederation for the protection and preservation of their sovereignty and interests. [13]
In 1868, during the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt, Francisco Ramírez Medina, having been sworn in as Puerto Rico's first president by the revolutionaries, proclaimed the Lares flag as the national emblem of the "Republic of Puerto Rico," and placed it on the high altar of the San José Parish in Lares, Puerto Rico, making it the first Puerto Rican flag. [11]
There were several flags made for the revolt, but only two have survived to this day. The oldest known Lares flag is quartered by a centered white cross, with two bottom deep red rectangles and two top light blue rectangles, the left of which bears a tiled, centered, five-pointed white star. According to anthropologist Ricardo Alegría, the flag was taken from the altar of the San José Parish of Lares by Spanish Captain José de Perignat, who kept it until his family donated it to Fordham University in New York City. In 1954, the university then gifted the flag to the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art of the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, then headed by Alegría, and in 1988, it was restored by the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. [2]
Since the early 20th century, some historians have questioned the authenticity of the flag, as there is no documentary evidence to validate that it was used in the revolt or that it was placed on the altar of the San José Parish in Lares, Puerto Rico. [7] It has been speculated that this flag is not an original Lares flag, but a copy made in the 1930s by nationalists for their commemoration of the Grito de Lares revolt. Yet at the same time, 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. [3]
The most recently known Lares 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, centered, five-pointed white star. According to the Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico (ADNPR) (National Digital Archive of Puerto Rico), the flag, considered to be La Coronela, the most important flag that was used by the first company commanded by the colonel of the armies, was captured in 1868 by Spanish Captain Manuel Iturriaga, who led the repression of the revolutionaries of Lares, in the Piedra Gorda neighborhood of Camuy, Puerto Rico after it was discovered on the farm of a revolutionary buried in one of two wooden boxes alongside hundreds of cartridges for militia rifles. After Iturriaga's death, the flag was donated by his son to the old Museo de Artillería de España (Museum of Artillery of Spain). Since its discovery in 2022, the flag is exhibited at the Museo Del Ejército (Museum of the Army) in Toledo, Spain. [7] [14]
In 1872, the flag was mentioned in "Historia de la insurrección de Lares…" ("History of the insurrection of Lares…"), a chronicle on the Grito de Lares written by Spanish telegrapher and journalist José Manuel Pérez Moris, a contemporary who had migrated to Puerto Rico from Cuba in 1869. [4] [5] Categorizing the flag as "la verdadera bandera de Lares" ("the real flag of Lares"), the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe (CEAPRC) (Center of Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean), claims that primary sources like Pérez Moris’ account of the revolt prove that this flag is the authentic one created by the revolutionary forces of the "Republic of Puerto Rico" that was to be born from the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares) revolt in 1868. [6]
The Grito de Lares flag was replaced by a new revolutionary flag, which is the current of the flag of Puerto Rico. 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 Martí and 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 Spain's once extensive American empire since 1825.
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, on December 22, with the knowledge and approval of their fellow Cuban rebels, Terreforte, vice-president of the committee, and around fifty-eight 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 "Republic of Puerto Rico," 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 Rodríguez de Tío, Puerto Rican poet, pro-independence leader, and committee member, who spent her later life exiled in liberated Cuba. [15] [16]
In 1868, Puerto Rican pro-independence leader Ramón Emeterio Betances, urged Mariana Bracetti to knit the revolutionary flag of the Grito de Lares (Cry of Lares), using as design the quartered flag of the First Dominican Republic and the lone star of the Cuban flag, with the aim of promoting Betances’ idea of uniting the three neighboring Spanish-speaking Caribbean Greater Antilles 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. [8] [17] [18] It is assumed that like the blue triangle on the current of Puerto Rico, the blue rectangles represent the sky and waters of the island.
No official document in Puerto Rico provides the exact dimensions of the flag's shape, cross, and five-pointed star. While the exact proportions of the flag have not been established by law, the most commonly used and widely accepted layout of the flag is as follows: [1]
At a length-to-width ratio of 2:3, the shape of the flag is rectangular, one and a half times longer than wide, composed of four equal rectangles, two blue on the top, the left of which bears a large, sharp, upright, centered, five-pointed white star which diameter is one-third of the flag width, and two red on the bottom, all four being nine-fourths of the flag length and twelves-fifths of the flag width, and a large white greek cross in the center touching all four sides of the flag, with its vertical post width being one-ninth of the flag length and horizontal crossbar width one-sixth of the flag width.
Most representations of the flag follow these specifications, with the components likely to vary being the size of the cross and star. The width of the cross is occasionally displayed bigger than the most commonly used size of one-ninth (1⁄9) of the flag length for its vertical post width and one-sixth (1⁄6) of the flag width for its horizontal crossbar width, and the diameter of the star is occasionally displayed smaller than the most commonly used size of one-third (1⁄3) of the flag width.
No official document in Puerto Rico provides the colors of the flag. While the exact colors of the flag have not been established by law, below are the most commonly used color shades. [1] [19] The intensity of both blue and red color shades changes to keep them complementary to each other.
Medium blue, or royal blue, Grito de Lares flag, matching the current flag of Puerto Rico and Lares, uses the following color shades: [1]
![]() Colors scheme | Blue | Red | White |
---|---|---|---|
RGB | 868,255 | 237,0,0 | 255-255-255 |
Hexadecimal | #0044ff | #ed0000 | #ffffff |
CMYK | 100-73-0-0 | 0-100-100-7 | 0-0-0-0 |
Pantone | 285 C | 2347 C | 11-0601 TX Bright White |
Dark blue, or navy blue, Grito de Lares flag, matching the dark blue flag of Puerto Rico and the original dark blue Grito de Lares flag exhibited in Spain, one of two original versions of the flag available today, uses the following color shades:
![]() Colors scheme | Blue | Red | White |
---|---|---|---|
RGB | 056,167 | 206,17,39 | 255-255-255 |
Hexadecimal | #0038a7 | #ce1127 | #ffffff |
CMYK | 100-66-0-35 | 0-92-81-19 | 0-0-0-0 |
Pantone | 293 C | 186 C | 11-0601 TX Bright White |
The light blue Grito de Lares flag has become increasingly popular in recent years. Today, most representations of the flag feature a light sky blue color shade, matching the light blue color shade of the original light blue Grito de Lares flag exhibited in Puerto Rico. [19]
Light blue, or sky blue, variation of light blue Grito de Lares flag matching the colors of the light blue flag of Puerto Rico and the light blue Grito de Lares flag exhibited in Puerto Rico, one of two original versions of the flag available today, uses the following color shades:
![]() Colors scheme | Blue | Red | White |
---|---|---|---|
RGB | 135-206-250 | 206-0-0 | 255-255-255 |
Hexadecimal | #87CEFA | #CE0000 | #ffffff |
CMYK | 46-18-0-2 | 0-100-100-19 | 0-0-0-0 |
Pantone | 2905 U | 3517 C | 11-0601 TX Bright White |
Lares is a mountain town and municipality of Puerto Rico's central-western area. Lares is located north of Maricao and Yauco; south of Camuy, east of San Sebastián and Las Marias; and west of Hatillo, Utuado and Adjuntas. Lares is spread over 10 barrios and Lares Pueblo. It is part of the Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The national flag of Cuba consists of five alternating stripes and a red equilateral triangle at the hoist, within which is a white five-pointed star. It was designed in 1849 and officially adopted May 20, 1902. The flag is referred to as the Estrella Solitaria, or the Lone Star flag. It is in the stars and stripes flag family.
Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán was a Puerto Rican independence advocate and medical doctor. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolt and designer of the Grito de Lares flag. Since the Grito galvanized a burgeoning nationalist movement among Puerto Ricans, Betances is also considered to be the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement and the ElPadre de la Patria . His charitable deeds for people in need, earned him the moniker of El Padre de los Pobres .
Grito de Lares, also referred to as the Lares revolt, the Lares rebellion, the Lares uprising, or the Lares revolution, was the first of two short-lived revolts against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico, staged by the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico on September 23, 1868. Having been planned, organized, and launched in the mountainous western municipality of Lares, the revolt is known as the Grito de Lares . Three decades after rebelling in Lares, the revolutionary committee carried out a second unsuccessful revolt in the neighboring southwestern municipality of Yauco, known as the Intentona de Yauco(The Attempted Coup of Yauco). The Grito de Lares flag is recognized as the first flag of Puerto Rico.
Lola Rodríguez de Tió was the first Puerto Rican-born woman poet to establish herself a reputation as a great poet throughout all of Latin America. A believer in women's rights, she was also committed to the abolition of slavery and the independence of Puerto Rico.
Mariana Bracetti Cuevas was a patriot and leader of the Puerto Rico independence movement. In 1868, she knitted the Grito de Lares flag that was intended to be used as the national emblem of Puerto Rico in its first of two attempts to overthrow Spanish rule, and to establish the island as a sovereign republic. As the flag of the Grito de Lares revolt, Bracetti's creation became known as the Bandera del Grito de Lares , most commonly known as the Bandera de Lares . Today, the flag is the official flag of the municipality of Lares, Puerto Rico.
Mathias Brugman, a.k.a. Mathias Bruckman, was a leader in Puerto Rico's independence revolution against Spain known as El Grito de Lares .
Manuel Rojas Luzardo was a Puerto Rican-Venezuelan commander of the Puerto Rican Liberation Army and one of the main leaders of the Grito de Lares uprising against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico.
Luis Lloréns Torres, was a Puerto Rican poet, playwright, and politician. He was an advocate for the independence of Puerto Rico.
Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to gain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire between 1493 and 1898 and since then from the United States. Today, the movement is most commonly represented by the flag of the Grito de Lares(Cry of Lares) revolt of 1868.
Francisco Ramírez Medina, was one of the leaders of "El Grito de Lares", the first major revolt against Spanish rule and call for independence in Puerto Rico in 1868. He has thus far been the only person to be named "President of the Republic of Puerto Rico".
Lieutenant Francisco Gonzalo Marín, also known as Pachín Marín, was a poet and journalist who fought alongside José Martí as a member of the Cuban Liberation Army. He is among those who are said to have designed the Puerto Rican flag.
General Juan Rius Rivera, was the soldier and revolutionary leader from Puerto Rico to have reached the highest military rank in the Cuban Liberation Army and to hold Cuban ministerial offices after independence. In his later year, he also became a successful businessperson in Honduras.
The Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico was founded on January 8, 1867 by pro-independence Puerto Rican exiles such as Segundo Ruiz Belvis, Ramón Emeterio Betances, Juan Ríus Rivera, and José Francisco Basora living at the time in New York City and re-established in 1892 as an affiliate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party under the name Club Borinquen and in 1895 as a segment of said Cuban party under the name Sección de Puerto Rico del Partido Revolucionario Cubano. The goal of the committee was to create a united effort by Cubans and Puerto Ricans to win independence from Spain in the second half of the 19th century.
The Antillean Confederation was the proposed idea of Ramón Emeterio Betances about the need for peoples of the Spanish-speaking Greater Antilles in the Caribbean to unite into an alliance in order to preserve the sovereignty and interests of Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Supporters of the idea wanted to free the Spanish island possessions of Cuba and Puerto Rico, later uniting them with the Dominican Republic in Hispaniola, creating one united Spanish Caribbean nation.
The Intentona de Yauco of March 24–26, 1897 was the second and final short-lived revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico. It was staged by the pro-independence Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico in the southwestern municipality of Yauco, 29 years after the first unsuccessful revolt, known as the Grito de Lares(Cry of Lares). During the Intentona de Yauco, the current flag of Puerto Rico was flown on the island for the first time.
José Gualberto Padilla, also known as El Caribe, was a physician, poet, journalist, politician, and advocate for Puerto Rico's independence. He suffered imprisonment and constant persecution by the Spanish Crown in Puerto Rico because his patriotic verses, social criticism and political ideals were considered a threat to Spanish Colonial rule of the island.
The flag of Puerto Rico, officially known as 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 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 one star, a single star, or a lone star. It is in the Stars and Stripes flag family.
The Battle of El Pepino was the only military encounter during the Grito de Lares revolution between the forces of the Republic of Lares and the Spanish colonial government. It took place in the town of El Pepino, currently San Sebastián, Puerto Rico on September 24, 1868. The revolutionary forces were repelled by the Militia Corps and some of the residents of El Pepino during their attempt to take the town. This battle was a serious setback for the revolutionary forces of the Republic of Lares, since they would never again take the battlefield against the Spanish troops.