[1] He was born on January 4, 1928, in the municipality of Abejorral, Antioquia, his parents were Vicente Betancourt and María Arango.
In 1946 he entered the Medellín Major Seminary and after he was ordained a priest by Monsignor Joaquín García Benítez on 1 November 1951.
In August 1953 traveled to Rome to study and obtained the degree of Canon Law in the Pontifical Lateran University.
He received the episcopal consecration on February 2, 1971, from the hands of Monsignor Tulio Botero Salazar in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín.
On November 10, 1975, he was appointed Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Garzón, where he remained until April 1977[1] when he resigned for health reasons.