His family heritage links back to the Bettencourt surname and Jean de Béthencourt, the figure who initiated the Canary Islands' colonization in 1402.

The group traveled from New York to La Guaira, Venezuela to seek assistance from Simón Bolívar in overthrowing the Spanish colonial government.

Betancourt focused his efforts on journalism and contributed to the Weekly Messenger (Spanish: El Mensajero Semanal), a Spanish-language newspaper published by Félix Varela.

In 1837, along with Tomás Pío Betancourt and another landowner, he successfully obtained the right from Miguel Tacón to build a railway from the city of Camagüey to the port of Nuevitas.

[7] He organized the first Cuban Revolutionary Junta of New York in 1848, aimed at bolstering Cuba’s political interests and opposing Spanish governance.

[8] Gaspar Betancourt, accompanied by other supporters of annexation, met with U.S. President James K. Polk on June 23, 1848, to request U.S. military assistance for a Cuban revolt against Spanish control.

For his role in the second López Expedition, Betancourt Cisneros received a ten-year transmarino imprisonment and a lifelong prohibition on returning to Cuba on August 19, 1850.

[11] On September 1, 1854, serving as President of the Junta, Betancourt Cisneros delivered a speech at the Mechanics' Institute in New Orleans to honor the third anniversary of Narciso López's death and the martyrs for Cuban liberty.