TRIGARANTE FLAG: BACKGROUND AND CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2026

The Trigarante flag or flag of the Iturbide regiment was the precursor of the current official standard of Mexico. This flag represented the Army of the Three Guarantees (Trigarante), a coalition of rebel forces and the forces of Iturbide, a former royalist general.

Commanded by Agustín de Iturbide, this army ended Spanish rule, achieving the independence of the Aztec nation. Once independence was achieved, Iturbide established himself as monarch of the Empire of Mexico. When his empire collapsed, the federal republic was adopted as a form of government.

At that time some old emblems of the homeland were retaken. However, the tricolor of the Iturbide regiment's flag remained: it was the symbol that represented the independence of the nation and the feelings of Mexican unity and identity.

On November 2, 1821, the Provisional Government Board decreed that the stripes, previously diagonal, be vertical. In addition, it must have in the center an eagle perched on a cactus and with its head crowned. This became the first civic, nonreligious emblem that united an ancient Mexica symbol and the principles of the insurgency.

Background

At least two insurgent flags had preceded the flag of the Iturbide regiment. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, when leading the first insurgent army, raised a banner with the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Then, from the beginning of 1813, the rebel leader José María Morelos y Pavón began to use the emblem of the Mexican eagle on flags and stamps. This emblem had a white background and a blue and white composite border.

In 1820 the viceroy appointed the royalist officer Agustín de Iturbide to lead an offensive against Guerrero's forces. After some skirmishes, Iturbide decided to meet with the rebel commander with the intention of negotiating an end to the fight.

Iguala Plan

On February 24, 1821, the two leaders reached an agreement and proclaimed the Plan of Iguala. According to this declaration of independence, Mexico was to separate from Spain and become the constitutional monarchy.

The decree established three guarantees: the primacy of the Catholic Church, independence and equality among Mexicans. To enforce the agreement, a new army was formed, the Trigarante Army, created from the forces of both sides.

In command of this army was Iturbide. A few months later, he ordered that a flag be made incorporating the principles of those three guarantees.

In this sense, Mexican tradition credits José Magdaleno Ocampo, a tailor from Iguala, with sewing the original Trigarante flag. The latter made it and handed it over to the Celaya regiment, commanded by Iturbide.

This is what is known as the flag of the Iturbide regiment. Later, this Creole military man ordered the battalions of his army to make pavilions that conformed to this general design.

Characteristics of the flag

The flag designed by Ocampo was a rectangle with three diagonal bars of white, green and red, in that order. Inside each bar was a six-pointed star of contrasting color.

At the center of the Ocampo flag was a crowned eagle. It is worth noting that some historians affirm that the eagle was not found in that first original flag, which was a Mexica symbol.

Around May 1, Iturbide ordered the battalions of his army to make flags based on this design. Each was supposed to have all three bars, but he replaced the eagle with a golden Imperial Crown emblem.

Registration

The regulations stipulated that the flag of the Iturbide regiment should bear the words “Religión. Independence. Union »above the crown. Next, it should also have the battalion name or number.

Thus, as with the Ocampo flag, a contrasting colored six-pointed star adorns each slash. As an additional decoration, the masts were covered in crimson velvet. The flag was attached to these with yellow tacks.

In this sense, one of the flags that this regulation followed still exists. It is the banner of the infantry regiment of the Puebla Provincial Line.

It is a square with the three diagonals on the front from the upper left to the lower right. The white bar is in the lower left corner and the red one is in the upper right corner. Inside the green bar in the middle is a crown centered on a white oval.

Furthermore, on the crown just inside the oval and following its curved shape, are the words: «Religion. Yndepen. Union". Similarly, embroidered in silk threads below it reads: "regiment ynfanteri" (sic).

Meaning

In large part, the tricolor of the Trigarante flag comes from the symbolism of the French Revolution. This revolution dominated the history, language, and symbolism of Western politics from its outbreak to the post-World War I period.

Thus, the French tricolor flag provided the model for the flag of most of the newly independent states. Those newly unified countries also adopted it.

By 1920 the national flags of twenty-two states consisted of three stripes of different colors, vertical or horizontal. Two of them had blocks of three colors in red, white and blue, which also suggest French influence. The Trigarante flag, like that of unified Italy, opted for the colors green, white and red.

These colors represented the three guarantees proclaimed by the Plan of Iguala. This plan was signed on February 24, 1821 in the city of Iguala (Guerrero). The three principles or guarantees of the plan formed the basis for establishing the first Mexican Empire. These included:

Religion (white color)

Primacy of the Catholic faith as the official religion of the independent state of Mexico.

Freedom (green color)

Absolute independence of Mexico from Spain.

Union (red color)

Full social and economic equality for all residents of Mexico, regardless of race, ethnicity, place of birth or class.

References

1. Mexico history. (s / f). Flag of the Iturbide regiment. Taken from Independientedemexico.com.mx.
2. Maberry, R. (2001). Texas flags. Texas: Texas A&M University Press.
3. Florescano, E. (2011). Independence, identity and nation in Mexico. In M. González Pérez (coordinator), Fiestas and nation in Latin America: the complexities in some ceremonials in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. Interculture Bogotá: Colombia.
4. Tinajero Portes, L. (1994). Commemorative days in the history of Mexico. San Luis Potosí: UASLP.
5. Delgado de Cantú, G. (2006). Mexico history. Mexico: Pearson Education.
6. Florescano, E. (2014). The Mexican flag: A brief history of its formation and symbolism. Mexico DF: Economic Culture Fund.
7. International Institute of Genealogy and Heraldry CSIC (1979). Studies at the convention of the International Institute of Genealogy and Heraldry on the occasion of its 25th anniversary (1953-1978). Madrid: Editions Hidalguía.
8. Hobsbawm, EJ (1990). Echoes of the Marseillaise: Two Centuries Look Back on the French Revolution. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.