Flag of Cuba
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| Use | National flag and ensign |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Adopted | May 20, 1849 |
| Design | Five horizontal stripes of blue alternate with white with the red equilateral triangle based on the hoist-side bearing the white five-pointed star in the center. |
| Designed by | Narciso López and Miguel Teurbe Tolón |
The national flag of Cuba consists of five blue and white alternating stripes, and a red equilateral triangle at the hoist with a white five-pointed star. It was adopted on May 20, 1849.
After fighting for the Spanish Crown against the rebel armies of Venezuela, Narciso López moved from his native Caracas to Havana, Cuba. His involvement in anticolonial movements forced him into exile. In 1849 he moved to New York City, where he continued to advocate for an independent Cuba.
The three blue stripes represent the three departments in which Cuba was divided at that time, the white purity of ideals, the light; the red triangle, originating from the French Revolution – and the three ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity: red for the blood and the courage; the star was the new state that should be added to the United States.
The poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón designed the flag alongside López, based upon the story of López's vision. Emilia Teurbe Tolón, Miguel's wife, sewed the first flag. López and Tolón, together with José Aniceto Iznaga Borrell, his nephew José María Sánchez Iznaga,Cirilo Villaverde and Juan Manuel Macias, settled upon the final design for the flag of Cuba: two white stripes, three blue, a red triangle, a lone star.
Narciso López used this same flag in 1850 to carry out his coup attempt to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule, which resulted in failure. The coastal town of Cardenas was the first town that saw the splendor of the lone star flag hoisted on May 19, 1850, in the taking of the city by Cuban rebels.
A year after the start of the Ten Years' War, the first Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Cuba met arms in Guáimaro, Camagüey Province. The debate focused between two flags of great symbolism, the Demajagua – which was very similar to the Chilean flag – created by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to give start to the war of independence, and the Lone Star of Narciso López, the latter being chosen since Narciso López had taken the first step for the freedom of Cuba. The Demajagua flag not was scrapped, but instead, was put in the sessions of the House of Representatives and retained as part of the national treasure.
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Wikipedia