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Republica de Cuba, Republic of Cuba
Flag adopted 20 May 1902.
The Flag
The official version of the Cuban government about the meaning of the shapes and colors of the cuban flag says that the blue stripes refer to the three old divisions of the island, the two white to the strength of the independentist ideal, the red triangle stands for equality, fraternity and freedom as well as for the blood split in the strugle for independence and the lone star symbolizes the absolute freedom among the peoples
M.V. Blanes , 19 Febuary 2000
Wasn't it so, that the star in the Cuban flag, at least at start, was meant to become one of the stars in the Stars and Stripes ?
The Cubans wanted to belong to the US at that time (late 19th Century).
Elias Granqvist, 23 June 2000
Crampton's 'World of Flags', 1990, has: "The white star (La Estrella Solitaria) represented a new state to be added to the USA. The red, white, and blue also referred deliberately to the Stars and Stripes." (p. 32)
Eve Devereux, in: 'Flags, the illustrated Identifier to flags of the world', 1994, has: "The ironic similarity between the "Lone Star" flag of Cuba and the Stars and Stripes of its arch enemy, the USA, is far from coincidental. The design can be traced to 1849 and General Narciso Lo'pez (d. 1851), a Venezuelan filibuster who, living in the USA, was anxious to liberate Cuba from the Spanish and claim it for his adopted country - hence the single star, to be added to the others." (p. 10)
Jarig Bakker, 23 June 2000
From Album 2000 [pay00] - National Flag (CSW/CSW 1:2) - Five striped blue-white-blue-white-blue flag with red trangle at hoist with a white star in it.
Zeljko Heimer, 3 june 2001
As for the Cuban flag, I have seen many in South Florida and one on a Cuban freighter in Toronto harbor. The one on the freighter used a dark blue. The ones I've seen here use a medium to medium-dark shade. Never have I seen a Cuban flag in light blue.
Al Kirsch, 3 July 2001
According to Whitney Smith, there is no official specification of the shade of blue of the Cuban flag. In Album des Pavillons 2000, I give as approx code numbers 186c and 280c.
Armand du Payrat, 4 January 2002
I would like to point out that the true color of the Cuban flag is turquoise blue and not the ocean blue you show in your site.The reason why the color is almost always ocean blue is purely, or impurely, commercial: the flag manufacturers, possibly non-Cuban, found it cheaper to produce one instead of the other. When seen in its true color, which represents our sky, the beauty of the Cuban flag can leave one breathless. Although you do give the precise measurements, your description is not truly the "official" one: " Three light blue stripes, later changed to ocean blue". Changed? By whom?
R. García Bárcena, 6 May 2002
My parents visited Cuba last month and bought a flag at the airport of Havana. The colour of the blue field is indeed "ocean blue" as shown on our website. The probability that the flag they bought was manufactured in a foreign country is extremely low. I have also photos taken in Havana by my mother, showing the Cuban national flag vertically displayed among revolutionary mottos painted on a wall in Havana, and here again the flag is "ocean blue".
Ivan Sache, 6 May 2002
Could it be that this tourqouise blue is the old blue, as shown in the old Cuban presidential flag, and the ocean blue we now have is the more modern blue?
Manuel L. Quezon, 7 May 2002
If so, it was a rather transient blue, since Flaggenbuch already made a clear distinction between the blue shades of the national and Presidential flags. By the way, the current Presidential flag is still turquoise blue.
Ivan Sache, 7 May 2002
I believe "azul turqui o azul marino" should be translated to "turquoise blue or navy blue". I've translated "azul marino" to navy blue which is more accurate than ocean blue. It refers to the same color using different names. The different shades of blue is problably due to flagmakers using the turq. blue as indicated by their color charts rather than dark turq. blue (navy blue) that is intended.
Marcos Obregon, 30 July 2002
La bandera de Cuba is prescribed in the Constitution as follows:
Capítulo I - Fundamentos Politicos, Sociales y Economicos del Estado
Art. 2. Los símbolos nacionales son los que han presidido por más de cien años las luchas cubanas por la independencia, por los derechos del pueblo y por el progreso social: la bandera de la estrella solitaria; el himno de Bayamo; el escudo de la palma real.
[Text from Georgetown University's Political Data Base of the Americas ]
Chapter I - Political, Social and Economic Principles of the State
Art. 2. The national symbols are those which have presided over hundred years in the Cuban struggles for independence, the rights of the people and social progress: The lone star flag; The Bayamo anthem; The royal palm shield.
[After the translation given by P. Vagnat & J. Poels in Constitutions - What they tell us about national flags and coat of arms]
The text quoted above comes from the Constitution of 24 February 1976. When the Constitution was amended in 1992, that text remained unchanged but was moved down to Art. 4.
Ivan Sache, 17 March 2003
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