Merida, Yuc. After 182 years and for the first time since 1841, the Yucatan flag was raised again, along with the national banner, in a plaza, north of Mérida, where the monumental flagpole is located, used for special official events.

And it was Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal, of PAN extraction, accompanied by the mayor of Mérida, Renán Barrera Concha, initially National Action candidate for state governor in 2024, among other state authorities, who presided over this event.

According to the state government, the Yucatecan labaro endorses the State’s commitment to the Federal Pact and promotes the cultural heritage, history and identity of this people, although at the beginning of the 20th century it was considered a separatist and conservative symbol.

With this civic ceremony, the reform to Article 116 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States related to the recognition of the distinctive symbols of the federative entities is fulfilled.

According to historical records, the flag of Yucatán was raised, officially and for the only time, on March 16, 1841 in the Mérida City Hall building. After that date, it was not officially used again until now when the Governor carried out the hoisting again and it can now be seen in public events and buildings.

This Yucatecan flag measures 24.5 meters long by 14.5 meters wide; It was supported by around 20 elements of state forces.

This flag is divided into two canvases: on the left, a green one, and on the right, another with three divisions, red at the top and bottom, and white in the middle. On the green canvas there are five stars that represent the five departments into which Yucatán was divided by decree of November 30, 1840. The departments were Mérida, Izamal, Valladolid, Tekax and Campeche.

The Yucatecan banner, which has the symbolic colors of the three guarantees, was never officially used. Yucatán always displayed the Mexican national flag at government events, on ships, fortifications and public buildings.

Separatism and the Yucatecan flag

Around 1841 in Mexico there was a political conflict between the centralist current government, which empowered the President to appoint governors as well as other decisions of the states, and the current that opted for a federal form of government that defended the division of powers and granted autonomy to the states. Yucatán was one of the states in which there was discontent with the centralist government that predominated.

By official order, the Yucatecan flag was established as a kind of “separatist” symbol, although it never replaced the national flag.

During the centralist government, the State Congress broke relations with Mexico while the federal regime was reestablished. On October 1, 1841, the local Chamber of Deputies approved the Act of Independence of the Peninsula, establishing that “the people of Yucatán, in the full use of their sovereignty, established themselves as a free and independent republic of the Mexican nation.” At that time the Peninsula included the states of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.

The Mexican government did not accept this independence. On the one hand, he sent a military advance to confront the separatists in what is now known as Hacienda Pacabtún in Mérida; On the other hand, the closure of trade between Yucatecan and Mexican ports affected the economy of Yucatán. Finally, Antonio López de Santa Anna, then president, signed on December 5, 1843 the agreements that granted Yucatán full autonomy, with the condition that it be reintegrated into the national territory.

Towards the end of 1845 these agreements were suppressed and on January 1, 1846, the Legislative Assembly of Yucatán once again declared the Independence of the Peninsula from Mexican territory. This second independent period did not last long, since the crisis generated by the Caste War between the Mayans and Mestizos forced the Yucatecan government to ask for military aid from the Mexican government, even at the cost of its sovereignty, in exchange for the reincorporation of Yucatán.

In 1848, Governor Miguel Barbachano sent a commission to José Joaquín Herrera to discuss the matter and the Mexican government sent him weapons and money to end the war. This is how Yucatán rejoins the Mexican federation, definitively closing this separatist chapter.

In the first two decades of the 20th century, with the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, conservative political forces tried to revive the Yucatan flag, but they were appeased by the federal armies.