Flag of Panama
Panama’s flag is divided into four quarters: white with a blue star, red, blue, and white with a red star. Panama’s press gives the usual explanation: blue and red are the Conservative and Liberal parties of the time and white the peace between them, the blue star stands for purity and honesty in civic life and the red star for authority and the law.
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How to read it
Panama’s flag law is Law 34 of 1949, amended by Law 52 of 1999 and Law 2 of 2012. Law 52 sets the proportion at one unit high by one and a half long (2 to 3). Panama’s National Commission on the Symbols of the Nation (CONASINA) describes the flag as quartered, two quarters above and two below, in navy blue, deep red and plain white, with two classic five-pointed stars, one point up, each a quarter of the flag’s height; its guide gives Pantone 186U (matte) or 187C (gloss) for the red and 296U or 295C for the blue. Panamá América describes the quarters: at the top by the pole a blue star on white, at the top away from it red, at the bottom by the pole blue, and at the bottom away from it a red star on white. CONASINA says the flag was designed by Manuel E. Amador, son of Manuel Amador Guerrero, who approved it on 1 November 1903, and was sewn by María Ossa de Amador; it was first shown on 3 November and carried through the streets on 4 November 1903.
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Why the quarters are arranged as they are
CONASINA says the designer changed his first version before the end of November 1903, because it was not fitting for one political party’s quarter to stand in the place of honour. Panamá América writes that the colours came from the two parties of the time, the Liberals (red) and the Conservatives (blue), with white for the peace between them.
What the stars stand for
Two explanations appear in Panama’s press. Telemetro, for the Day of the Symbols of the Nation in 2021, gives the blue star as the purity and honesty that govern the country’s civic life and the red star as the authority and law that uphold those virtues. Panamá América, in 2007, says the stars marked uprightness, strength and authority.
Flag day
Panama marks its flag on 4 November, as a national holiday (Panamá América). Telemetro calls it the Day of the Symbols of the Nation, which the country marks by law for the flag, the anthem and the coat of arms.
Read next
- Next in North and Central American flagsFlag of CubaCuba’s flag has five horizontal stripes, three blue and two white, and a red triangle at the pole holding a white five-pointed star: the “flag of the lone star” named in Cuba’s Constitution. As the Havana historian Eusebio Leal told it, the blue stripes are the island’s three military departments, the white the purity of the cause, the red triangle the blood that would be shed, and the three colours liberty, equality and fraternity.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of the African UnionThe African Union’s flag shows a map of Africa on a green field, surrounded by rays of light and a ring of stars. The African Union says the stars, 55 of them, represent its 55 member states; the Assembly’s 2007 decision asked for a green background to symbolise Africa’s hope.
More north and Central American flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with squares and rectangles or stars.
Sources
- Los Símbolos de la Nación Panameña: introducción a su historia, significado y más (CONASINA), Vladimir Berrío-Lemm, Comisión Nacional de los Símbolos de la Nación (CONASINA), presentation, 2020, Comisión Nacional de los Símbolos de la Nación, Ministerio de Gobierno de Panamá, La Bandera Panameña; Sobre la Bandera; Pantone; Equivalentes
- Ley 52 de 1999, sobre el uso de la Bandera de la República (Panamá), Ley n.º 52 de 1 de diciembre de 1999, Gaceta Oficial 23940, Justia Panamá (Legispan), art. 1
- Historia de la bandera panameña (Panamá América), Panamá América, 4 November 2007, Panamá América, article text
- 4 de noviembre: Panamá conmemora el Día de los Símbolos de la Nación (Telemetro), Telemetro, 4 November 2021, Telemetro (Panamá), article text
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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