Oh... and the Cuba flag...
A Venezuelan general, Narciso Lopez, made in 1848 the first serious attempt to help Cuba break away from Spanish rule.
He carried 'La Estrella Solitaria' -'The Lone Star'- flag, Cuba's present flag. (While he was having important meetings on the revolution, his wife embroidered it).
His attempt was not successful; only in 1902 Cuba became an independent republic and Lopez's flag was adopted as the official flag.
The three blue stripes are the symbols of the original three provinces. The triangle is a masonic symbol, here signifying liberty, equality and fraternity. The red color is for the blood sacrificed by the Cuban patriots.
The year was 1849. It was a steamy hot day in New York City and General Narciso Lopez, of Venezuelan origin, had joined the fight for Cuba's independence. Exhausted from planning all that was entailed in bringing Revolution to Cuba, he sat a local park, and quickly fell asleep. He was concerned about the pending arrival in Cuba. He felt a flag was necessary to add patriotic fervor to the endeavor. When he awoke in the park, the colors of the splendorous sky allowed him to envision the would-be flag. Full of emotion, he went to his friend, a poet and soon-to-be patriot, Miguel Teurbe Tolon, who incorporated Narciso's ideas and designed the flag which was later sewn by Emilia Teurbe Tolon.
And so it was: Three light blue stripes, later changed to ocean blue, representing Cuba's three sections at the time, Western, Central and Eastern. The two white stripes representing the purity and justice of the patriotic liberators' motives. While the lone white star within the equilateral red triangle represents the unity of the people upon the blood spilled by the revolutionary heroes.
When did that happen?
