Francisco Gonzalo Marín Lieutenant Francisco Gonzalo Marín , also known as Pachín Marín ( March 12 , 1863 - November 1897 ) , was a poet and journalist who fought alongside José Martí as a member of the Cuban Liberation Army . He is among those who allegedly designed the Puerto Rican Flag . Early years . Marín ( birth name : Francisco Gonzalo Marín Shaw ) was one of six siblings born to Santiago Marín Solá and Celestina Shaw Figuero in Arecibo , Puerto Rico , town in which he received both his primary and secondary education . 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 . Marín entered a seminary , but was unable to finish his studies because his family could not economically afford it . Marín went to work with the intention of helping his family and became a typesetter by trade . At the age of twenty founded a newspaper called " El Postilion " was a believer of the independence cause and openly advocated his ideas . Marín expressed his love for his country in his poems and in his newspaper . In 1884 , he published his first book of poems titled " Flores nacientes " ( newborn Flowers ) and followed this with " Mi óbolo ' in 1887 , which contained the poems " Mis dos cultos " ( My two cults ) , " A la asamblea " ( To the Assembly ) and " Al sol " ( To the Sun ) . He had an older brother , Wencenlao Marín , whom he admired and with whom he shared his ideals . 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 . During his stay , he criticized the actions of Ulises Hereaux , the president of the republic and he found himself once again in exile . In 1890 , he went to live in Venezuela . In Caracas he was hired by " El siglo de Caracas " ( the Century of Caracas ) publishing house and he published various poems , among them " Emilia " . However , it wasn ' t long before he entered into another conflict , this time with the Venezuelan Head of State Raimundo Andueza Palacio and was once more exiled , this time to the island of Martinique . Design of the Puerto Rican flag . In 1890 , Marín returned to Puerto Rico for a short period of time and in 1891 , he immigrated to Boston , Massachusetts . In 1892 , Marín received the tragic news that his brother Lt . Wencenlao Marín had perished in the Battle of Manigua in Cuba . This motivated Marín to travel to New York City and enlist in the Cuban Liberation Army . The New York headquarters of the Cuban Army was situated in the New York offices of the Cuban Revolutionary Party . The person registering the volunteers when Marín went to enlist was José Martí . The meeting of the two was the beginning of a friendship which was cut short by the death of Martí in 1895 . During his stay in the city , he collaborated in the " La Gaceta del Pueblo " a separatist newspaper which published the narative " New York from Within " . Marín is credited with designing the Puerto Rican Flag . He used the Cuban Flag as a model and inverted the colors in the flags triangle and stripes . He presented the flag in New York ' s " Chimney Corner Hall " a gathering place of independence advocates . The flag soon came to symbolize the ideals of the Puerto Rican independence movement . Some people believe that Manuel Besosa was the designer , based on a letter written by his daughter where she says , " . . . my father asked me to sew together some pieces of cloth , white , red and blue that he brought himself , this tiny flag had 5 alterned stripes , red and white , and a triangle with a five point star within it . . . " . However , there is a letter written by Juan de Mata Terreforte , Vice - President of the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico a chapter of the Cuban Revolutionary Party which clearly gives credit to Marín . 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 . However , it may never be truly known who designed the flag . 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 . Vélez Alvarado 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 . Martí was pleasantly impressed by the prototype , and made note of it in a newspaper article published in the Cuban revolutionary newspaper " Patria " , published on July 2 of that year . Acceptance of the prototype was slow in coming , but grew with time . Plus , 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 . Cuban Liberation Army . Soon , Marín was fighting in Cuba where he was given the rank of Lieutenant . Marín was wounded after he and his men confronted the Spanish Army in a skirmish in Turiguanó . Believing that he would be a burden to his men , he refused to be treated and was placed on a hammock . On November 1897 Lt . Francisco Gonzalo Marín died and when his men returned they buried his remains . Poetic works . Among his poetic works are : Postscript . 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 . However , the flag adopted by the government was slightly different . Instead of a light blue triangle , preferred by the independence movement , the government approved a dark blue triangle similar to the blue used in the flag of the United States . The City of Arecibo named an Avenue in his honor .