Francisco Gonzalo Marín

It was a period in history when the last two remaining Spanish colonies in the Antilles, Puerto Rico and Cuba, were demanding either more autonomy or full independence.

At the age of twenty founded a newspaper called El Postilion, was a believer of the independence cause and openly advocated his ideas.

[2] Marín's brother enlisted in the Cuban Liberation Army which was fighting the Spanish Crown and was given the rank of lieutenant.

In the meantime, Marín was the victim of political persecution by the Spanish government in the island and went into exile to the Dominican Republic in 1889.

[3] During his stay in the city, he collaborated in the La Gaceta del Pueblo a separatist newspaper which published the narrative "New York from Within".

The original contents of the letter in Spanish are the following:[1] "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.

According to some accounts 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.

Almost immediately he visited a nearby merchant, Domingo Peraza, from whom he bought some crepe paper to build a crude prototype.

en pos de su derecho soberano a free flag that it may raise proud, while seeking its sovereign right bríos de combate en contra del tirano, la altiva dignidad del ciudadano vigor of battle against the tyrant, the arrogant dignity of the citizen láncese al campo del honor fecundo, may it charge the field of fertile honor, verá cambiarse el mísero despojoe will see the wretched spoil transformed The Puerto Rican flag designed by Marín was approved by the Government of Puerto Rico on July 24, 1952, making it the official flag of Puerto Rico.