Puerto Rican Migration To New York - Origins of The Puerto Rican Flag

Origins of The Puerto Rican Flag

Four other Puerto Ricans who moved to New York because of political reasons were Manuel Besosa, Antonio Vélez Alvarado, Juan Ríus Rivera and Francisco Gonzalo Marín. These four Puerto Ricans joined the Cuban Liberation Army whose headquarters was in New York City.

Some sources document Francisco Gonzalo Marín with presenting a Puerto Rican flag prototype in 1895 for adoption by the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City. Marín has since been credited by some with the flag's design. There is a letter written by Juan de Mata Terreforte which gives credit to Marin. The original contents of the letter in Spanish are the following:

"La adopción de la bandera cubana con los colores invertidos me fue sugerida por el insigne patriota Francisco Gonzalo Marín en una carta que me escribió desde Jamaica. Yo hice la proposición a los patriotas puertorriqueños que asistieron al mitin de Chimney Hall y fue aprobada unánimemente."

Which translated in English states the following: The adaptation of the Cuban flag with the colors inverted was suggested by the patriot Francisco Gonzalo Marín in a letter which he wrote from Jamaica. I made the proposition to various Puerto Rican patriots during a meeting at Chimney Hall and it was approved unanimously.

It is also believed that on June 12, 1892, Antonio Vélez Alvarado was at his apartment at 219 Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, when he stared at a Cuban flag for a few minutes, and then took a look at the blank wall in which it was being displayed. Vélez suddenly perceived an optical illusion, in which he perceived the image of the Cuban flag with the colors in the flag's triangle and stripes inverted. Almost immediately he visited a nearby merchant, Domingo Peraza, from whom he bought some crepe paper to build a crude prototype. He later displayed his prototype in a dinner meeting at his neighbor's house, where the owner, Micaela Dalmau vda. de Carreras, had invited José Martí as a guest.

In a letter written by Maria Manuela (Mima) Besosa, the daughter of the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee member Manuel Besosa, she stated that she sewed the flag. This created a belief that her father could have been its designer.

Even though Marín presented the Puerto Rican Flag in New York's "Chimney Corner Hotel", it may never be known who designed the current flag. What is known, however, is that on December 22, 1895, the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee officially adopted a design which is today the official flag of Puerto Rico.

In 1897, Antonio Mattei Lluberas, a wealthy coffee plantation owner from Yauco, visited the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee in New York City. There he met with Ramón Emeterio Betances, Juan de Mata Terreforte and Aurelio Méndez Martinez and together they proceeded to plan a major coup. The uprising, which became known as the Intentona de Yauco was to be directed by Betances, organized by Aurelio Mendez Mercado and the armed forces were to be commanded by General Juan Ríus Rivera from Cuba. The political immigration to New York practically came to a halt in 1898 after the Spanish-American War when Puerto Rico became a possession of the United States. It is estimated that 1,800 Puerto Rican citizens (they were not American citizens until 1917) had immigrated to New York during this period.