Fighting against the
Spanish Crown with the rebel armies of
Venezuela,
Narciso López moved from his native
Caracas to
Havana,
Cuba. His involvement in anti-colonial movements forced him into exile. In 1849, he moved to
New York City, United States, where he continued to advocate for an independent Cuba. The three blue stripes represent the three departments in which Cuba was divided at that time; the white, purity of the patriot cause; and the red triangle, a symbol of strength, constancy, and
Mason influences (triangles are Masonic symbols for equality and were found in a number of other flags in the former Spanish empire). The poet
Miguel Teurbe Tolón designed the flag alongside Lopez, based upon the story of López's vision. Emilia Teurbe Tolón, Miguel's wife, sewed the first flag, under the guidance and direction of
Marta Abreu, the "Patroness of Cuba." López and Tolón, together with José Aniceto Iznaga Borrell, his nephew José María Sánchez Iznaga,
Cirilo Villaverde and Juan Manuel Macías, settled upon the final design for the flag of Cuba: two white stripes, three blue, a red triangle, and a lone star. López used this same flag in 1850 to carry out his ultimately unsuccessful
coup attempt to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. On May 19, 1850, Cuban rebels took the coastal town of
Cárdenas, and hoisted the lone-star flag for the first time. A year after the start of the
Ten Years' War, the first Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Cuba met arms in
Guáimaro, Camagüey Province. The debate focused on two flags of great symbolism, the Demajagua – which was very similar to the
Chilean flag – created by
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes to give start to the war of independence, and the Lone Star of López, the latter being chosen in recognition of López having taken the first step towards the freedom of Cuba. The Demajagua flag was not scrapped, but instead was put in the House of Representatives sessions and retained as part of the national treasure. On the morning of May 20, 1902, the day Cuba officially became an independent republic, Generalissimo
Máximo Gómez had the honor of hoisting the flag on the flagpole of the castles of the Tres Reyes del Morro, Havana; with this act, he sealed the end of the Cuban revolution and the end of struggle for Cuban independence, and, at the same time, justified the sacrifice that so many offered to make this dream become reality. Both the flag and the coat of arms were designed by Miguel Teurbe Tolón. The design specifications of both were formally established by decree of the first
president of Cuba,
Tomás Estrada Palma, on April 21, 1906. The flag has remained unchanged since then, even during and after the 1959
Cuban Revolution, which established the present-day
communist state of the
Republic of Cuba. In 2019, Cuba introduced the "National Symbols Bill". The official press release said the bill "would establish more flexible use of these items with a view toward promoting their greater presence in society, within a legally defined, respectful framework". According to
ADN Cuba, the bill states that the flag could be used "as a means of publicity only when the messages that are transferred contribute to fostering and developing patriotic values in people and to form a patriotic conscience of respect and veneration for them and for the historical tradition of the nation". In August 2019, artists from the
San Isidro Movement launched a campaign using the
hashtag "#" to protest against restrictions placed on the use of the Cuban flag by the Cuban government and the arrest of artist
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara under the new law. ==Subsequent use==