On July 7, 2008, Mexico's Flag was voted the Most Beautiful Flag in the World in an Internet contest held by the Spanish Newspaper 20 Minutos, with the flags of Peru and Guatemala coming in at second and third places.
The Mexican flag, one of the three patriotic symbols of this Latin American country, scored 900,286 points, an impressive lead over second place winner Peru at 339,771 points and Guatemala's score of 271,449 points.
The current flag of Mexico, which was adopted by decree on September 16th 1968, is divided into three vertical stripes of red, white and green. Each color has a different meaning: green representing hope, white for unity and red symbolizing the blood that was shed during the battles for Independence.
In the center of the white stripe is the National Shield, an eagle perched on a nopal cactus that emerges from a lake, with wings that are ready for battle and a snake in its beak.
In this contest, the flag of Mexico was competing against the flags of Guatemala, Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Israel, among others.
The Mexican flag took an early lead, moving into first place by the middle of the previous month, which left the other countries with little chance of winning the competition.