🇵🇷 The colours of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s flag features red, white, and blue. Red represents the blood of warriors, white stands for liberty, victory, and peace, and blue is for the sky and coastal waters. The single white star symbolises the island itself, while the triangle’s three sides refer to the branches of government.

Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.

• The flag’s blue triangle can be dark, light, or medium blue.
• Red stands for the blood of warriors.
• White symbolises liberty, victory, and peace.
• The single white star represents Puerto Rico itself.
• The flag’s design is based on Cuba’s flag.

The colours of the flag of Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican flag is made up of five horizontal stripes that alternate red and white, with a blue triangle at the hoist side containing a single white star. Each colour has a specific meaning: red stands for the blood of warriors, white for liberty, victory, and peace, and blue for the sky and coastal waters. The star represents Puerto Rico itself, and the triangle’s three sides symbolise the three branches of government. These meanings are officially recognised, though the exact shade of blue is not fixed by law and is sometimes used to signal political views.

How the colours were chosen of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s first flag, the Lares flag, appeared in 1868 during a revolt against Spanish rule. Its design drew from Dominican and Cuban flags, reflecting hopes for unity among Caribbean nations. The current flag was created in 1895 by exiles in New York, inspired by Cuba’s flag, to represent the independence movement. Over time, the shade of blue has shifted: dark blue was used early on, light blue was adopted by independence supporters from 1967, and medium blue became common after 1995. The flag was made official in 1952, but the law did not specify the blue’s shade.

Official shades and rules of Puerto Rico

The law names the flag’s colours as red, white, and blue, but does not define their shades. As a result, the blue triangle appears in various tones, including dark, light, and medium blue. No official specification for the colours’ exact appearance or proportions has been set, and attempts to standardise the blue as 'royal blue' have not succeeded.