New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico - Party Logo

Party Logo

The party is strongly associated with the color blue in Puerto Rico because of its logo. Since the logo features a palm tree, many Puerto Ricans call the NPP "La Palma".

Curiously enough, the use of a palm tree as a party symbol by the NPP was suggested, indirectly, by the opposition. In the original 1967 status plebiscite, then Puerto Rico governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella asked one of his then staff members, future governor Rafael Hernández Colón to come up with three ideas for art clips, as to identify each of the three status options in the ballot and assist illiterate voters who might not be able to read it. In his book "Vientos de Cambio", Hernández Colón recalls that he conceived the three symbols while at the backyard of his father-in-law's house in Ponce, Puerto Rico. One of the symbols (the one which eventually represented the statehood option in the ballot) was a "palma real" (Roystonea regia), a species of palm tree that is native to the Caribbean. The group "Estadistas Unidos", the statehood supporters who broke rank with García Méndez to participate at the plebiscite, adopted the palm tree as a potential party symbol when they incorporated the PNP. Due to electoral law restrictions, however, they were forbidden to use a "palma real" as a logo because of its previous use in an election; therefore, a coconut (Cocos nucifera) palm tree was used instead. The use of the coconut palm tree as a symbol by the PNP persists to this day.

The logo's original version consisted of a light blue palm tree, partially encircled by words in a semicircle (the exact color hue for the logo being that of the United Nations flag, as a personal request from the party founder, Luis A. Ferré. The original logo had the party's name surrounding it; eventually the words "estadidad, seguridad, progreso" ("statehood, security, progress" in English) substituted the party name. The logo later enclosed the palm tree in a blue oval and reversed its colors. The tonality of blue used in the newer logo was eventually changed to a deep navy blue, as to liken it to that of the canton of the United States' flag.