by Blas Delgado
Last modified: 2004-07-17 by dov gutterman
Keywords: puerto rico | rio grande |
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by Blas Delgado
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The image at pueblos-de-puertorico.com (defunct) site is
exactly the same as at lexjuris
site. In the last site a description in Spanish. I assume that
the bird on the flag is a local parrot (?) . Río Grande seems to
be better known as 'Ciudad del Yunque' after a mountainpeak close
by; it is 30 Km east of San Juan in northeast Puerto Rico; it was
founded June 16, 1840; there are 45,648 Riograndeños.
Jarig Bakker, 4 Febuary 2000
Río Grande (literally, 'big river', and stands for the
Espíritu Santo River) - The flag has as its components the main
representative symbols of the city. Over a white triangle it
appears the Puerto Rican parrot, Amazonia vitatta vitatta (an
alarmingly endangered species), by way that this is its
territory, specially the El Yunque Mountain (and other peaks in
the Luquillo Range), where this autochthonous species still
subsists. The green band represents the Range that comprises the
group of mountains where El Yunque overtop within the Río Grande
jurisdiction (in fact, and contrary to popular belief, Pico del
Este is the tallest mountain within the Range. El Yunque's
significance comes from the fact that it was the Taíno's holiest
mountain). The blue band represents the Espíritu Santo (Holy
Ghost) River and makes reference to the city name.
Blas Delgado, 16 April 2001
rg.gif)
by Nelson Román, 16 July 2004
In a field of silver, two Puerto Rican parrots (Amazon vitatta
vitatta) , accompanied by a waving blue stripe, a green mountain
with three peaks. The top portion of the shield is blue, with an
opened silver book, accompanied on each side by five gold coins.
Topped by a three tower gold crown outlined in black with green
openings. Our shield reunites the native, historical and
geographic elements of Río Grande. The center has the three
peaks of El Yunque and, two Puerto Rican parrots; native birds
that live in this region. The waving blue stripe represents the
Esp?ritu Santo river, navigable route very useful for the tourist
and commercial development. The open book represents the Pimentel
and Castro School, the first school built in Puerto Rico by means
of matched contributions by a municipality (Río Grande) and by
the Insular Government of the Island. One of the five groups of
coins, represents the five thousand dollars contributed by Grande
River and the other group, the five thousand provided by the
Insular Government of Puerto Rico for the construction of the
school. The book also symbolizes the important participation the
teachers and students of Río Grande, in taking the necessary
steps to equip the municipality with a coat of arms, due to the
initiative of the teacher and local historian Don Edmundo Del
Valle, who gave to the project, which he never saw fulfilled
during his life, all his dedication and enthusiasm. The crown is
standard of municipal shields.
Source: <www.linktopr.com>.
Nelson Román, 16 July 2004