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( First patriotic
symbol of Cuba )
-1849
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On April 11,
1869, in the Assembly of Guáimaro, it was agreed that the
national flag of Cuba was raised by General Narciso López
in the city of Cárdenas, located in the province of
Matanzas, May 19, 1850.
The Cuban flag was
recognized during the Constitution of 1901. This
acknowledgement was later ratified in the Constitution
of 1940. On May 20, 1902 when Cuba was proclaimed a
Free and Independent Republic, it was
raised for the first time on the Castle of Los Tres
Reyes del Morro on the port of
Havana.
Just like every flag
has its history, this one would be no exception. Here it
is. General Narciso, a Venezuelan nationalist, while in
New York City fighting for the independent sector of Cuba,
exhausted by his revolutionary labors, fell asleep in a
park. Upon awakening he looked at the sky and saw blue
and white silhouettes with a red spot produced by
sunset. An oscillating star shined in the center. These
elements contemplated a joyous idea. Narciso López was
so moved that he went looking for his friend and compatriot,
Miguel Teurbe Tolón, a poet and
artist from Matanzas, whom with the ideas expressed by
Narciso López, designed the Cuban flag. The flag
was tailored in satin cloth by Teurbe
Tolón's wife,
Emilia, who was also his
cousin.
The flag
measured half a meter in length and thirty five centimeters in
width, sewed by hand . Its' star, with curved outlines, had a
thin edge which was also white.
The three sky blue
stripes, later changed to a blue turquoise or navy blue,
represented the three Departments in which the Island was
divided at that time: East, Center and West. The two white
stripes that separated the blue ones, represent the
purity and justice of
patriots, the liberators.
The equilateral red
triangle, a symbol of the dispersed blood of heroes, and the
sole star with one of its points pointing upward, with the
flag positioned horizontally represents the union of a nation
in its full splendor.
The original flag
created by Narciso López in 1849, had the star rotated,
with one of its points aligned pointing to the free end
of the triangle. The actual position of the star was decided
by the first Constitutional President of Cuba, Mr.
Tomás Estrada Palma, in a Decree on April 21, 1906.
He also determined at this time which blue color tone would be
used for the flag's three stripes, deciding that they would be
that turquoise.
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