Grito de Lares flag

Grito de Lares Flag
Bandera del Grito de Lares (Spanish)

Current Grito de Lares Flag Medium Blue Azul Medio (Spanish)
Adopted	Current composition of the flag based on the current, government-recognized flag of the municipality of Lares, the town that adopted the flag of the Grito de Lares revolt after it took place in its territory[1]
Current Grito de Lares Flag Light Blue Azul Claro (Spanish)
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; 155 years ago (1868-09-23) 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]
Current Grito de Lares Flag Dark Blue Azul Oscuro (Spanish)
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; 155 years ago (1868-09-23) 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 red and two blue, the upper left of which bears a centered, five-pointed white star; 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

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The Grito Lares flag (Spanish: Bandera del Grito de Lares), most commonly known as La Bandera de Lares (Lares flag), 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 red and two blue, the upper left of which bears a centered, five-pointed white star. 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 Lares 27 years before revolutionaries adopted the current flag of Puerto Rico in New York, the flag 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.