Flag of Peru

How to read it

Law 32251, published on 19 January 2025, brings Peru’s rules on its national symbols into one law and repeals several older ones, among them Decree Law 11323. It defines the national flag, created by the law of 25 February 1825, as a rectangle of three vertical stripes, red, white and red, without arms, three units long to two high. The national coat of arms, by José Gregorio Paredes, is a shield of three fields: a vicuña on light blue, the cinchona (quina) tree on white, and below them, on red, a cornucopia pouring out coins, standing for Peru’s riches in the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. A closed civic crown of holm oak sits above it, and national flags on staffs stand at either side.

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Bandera, pabellón and war flag

Peru’s law separates three flags that look alike. The Bandera Nacional, the plain red, white and red flag, is one of the symbols of the homeland. The Pabellón Nacional is the same flag with the national coat of arms in the centre; it is a symbol of the state, reserved for state institutions and carried without any added text. The war flag (bandera de guerra), for the armed forces and the national police, carries instead the arms of war (escudo de armas): the same shield and crown framed by a palm branch and a laurel branch, and it may have the unit’s name beneath in gold.

Older descriptions differ. In 2012 the University of Piura described the Pabellón as carrying the escudo de armas, framed by laurel and olive, and the war flag the national coat of arms, the reverse of what the 2025 law says.

What the colours stand for

The 2025 law gives the colours no meaning. The draft regulation that the Ministry of Defence published for comment in July 2025 does: red for the blood of the Peruvians who fought for independence and of those who defended the nation’s sovereignty, white for the light of the Inca sun and the majesty of the Andes. It sets the red as Pantone 1795 C (hex #E30613).

Telling it from Canada’s flag

Canada’s flag is also red, white and red, but its white centre is a square holding a red maple leaf. On Peru’s state flag the three stripes are of equal width, the draft regulation says, and the white carries Peru’s arms; the plain national flag has nothing on the white.