Flag of Santander Department

As the Sovereign State of Santander, the flag was the Colombian flag with the Colombian coat of arms in the center, with a red banner encircling the coat of arms that read "ESTADO SOBERANO DE SANTANDER" (es: Sovereign State of Santander).[1]

When the states were dissolved and the Department of Santander was formed the symbols were obsolete and needed to change.

The flag of Santander has a complicated design; it is a fimbriated horizontal bicolour triband, with a red stripe in the hoist that has eight stars.

Article 2 of Decree No. 579 of 1972 states that the flag of Santander would be a vert rectangle with two thirds the width in relation with its length, surmounted by a stripe of gules in the hoist, with a vertical line of six stars in argent. The field would be cut in the middle by a stripe of or of a quarter in width in respect to the flag, on top of this would be in the middle another horizontal stripe in sable, a third of the size of the previous stripe.

Due to the latest modifications, the stars would be eight, instead of six.

• The red hoist symbolizes the nobility and the vertical bravery of the Santanderian race.
• The argent stars represent the eight provincial nuclei that form part of the department: Soto Norte, Vélez, García Rovira, Guanentá, Comuneros, Mares, Metropolis and Carare Opon.
• The vert denotes loyalty, hope and the certainty with which the citizens of the department have worked its land and improved its industry with great effort.
• The or and sable stripes, symbolize the natural resources of the land that have been exploited since the times of the colony, these are gold, coal and petroleum.[3]

• Coat of arms of the Department of Santander
• Flag of Bucaramanga