Introduced in 1850, officially approved 20 May 1902. The flag was designed by a Cuban poet Teurbe Tolon in 1849 and was patterned on the design of the Stars and Stripes. The star, called La Estrella Solitaria ('the Lone Star') was selected to light the way towards freedom and was taken from the flag of Texas. In time, the Cuban flag itself began to be knows as La Estrella Solitaria. The flag was hoisted for the first time on 19 May 1850 in Ordenas on the north coast of Cuba where General Francisco Lopez landed with 600 men and staged an abortive attempt to free the country from colonial rule. The triangle is a Masonic symbol of liberty, equality and fraternity, and the three blue stripes stand for the three sectors into which Cuba was divided by the Spaniards. The white symbolizes the pure intentions of the revolutionaries and for justice; the red is for the blood that was shed in the struggle for independence.