The flag was officialized with independence in 1902. It is said the General Narciso Lopez, who believed that a flag was necessary for independence movements, came up with the concept, poet Miguel Teurbe Tolon made the design, and his wife sewed up the flag. The three blue stripes symbolize the three regions at the time, red, blood shed for independence, and the white star, the nobility and purity of ideology in the mother land. The triangle represents freedom, equality and benevolence.