Flags of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Name	Current flag of Puerto Rico
Design	1895
Variant flag of Puerto Rico
Name	(1895 flag version with Azul Celeste blue tone)
Adopted	1895
Variant flag of Puerto Rico
Name	(1952 flag version with dark blue tone)
Use	Civil and state flag, civil and state ensign
Adopted	1952
Design	Five equal horizontal bands of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; blue ) isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bears a large, white, five-pointed star in the center.(Official colors of the flag)

The flag of Puerto Rico represents and symbolizes the island of Puerto Rico and its people.

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 flag, "The Revolutionary Flag of Lares", was conceived by Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances and embroidered by Mariana "Brazos de Oro" Bracetti. This flag was used in the short-lived Puerto Rican revolt against Spanish rule in the island, known as "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 the flag of 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. 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 "Intentona de 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, with darker shades than sky blue were aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during its flight into outer space on March 15, 2009.