Francisco Sánchez y Betancourt was born in Puerto Príncipe (now Camagüey), Spanish Cuba, on January 31, 1827.

In October 1868, as the Ten Years' War broke out, Sánchez aligned himself with the uprising against Spanish control.

[2] On February 26, 1869, in Camagüey, he joined Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, Antonio Zambrana, Eduardo Agramonte Piña, and Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz in signing the Decree of Abolition of Slavery (Spanish: Abolición de la Esclavitud).

[3] When Céspedes called for a constitutional convention to be held on April 10, 1869, Sánchez Betancourt took part in the Guáimaro Assembly as a delegate of Camagüey.

José Martí highlighted the life and contributions of Francisco Sánchez Betancourt in a piece published in Patria on September 15, 1894.