National old flag of Cuba ( approx.1978 - 1982 ) cotton made, original. The national flag of Cuba (Bandera nacional de Cuba) consists of five alternating stripes (three navy blue and two white) and a cherry red chevron at the hoist, within which is a white five-pointed star. It was designed in 1849 and officially adopted May 20, 1902. The flag is referred to as the Estrella Solitaria, or the Lone Star flag.[1] Vexillologist Alfred Znamierowski assigns the flag to his Stars and Stripes flag family. On the morning of May 20, 1902, the day Cuba officially became an independent republic, Generalissimo Máximo Gómez had the honor of hoisting the flag on the flagpole of the castles of the Tres Reyes del Morro, Havana; with this act, he sealed the end of the Cuban revolution and the end of struggle for Cuban independence, and, at the same time, justified the sacrifice that so many offered to make this dream become reality.