Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros

Gaspar Betancourt y Cisneros (April 28, 1803 - December 7, 1866), also known as "El Lugareño" ("The Local"), was a Cuban revolutionary, writer, and pioneer of Cuban journalism.

Early life and education
Gaspar Betancourt y Cisneros was born in Puerto Principe (now Camagüey), Spanish Cuba on April 28, 1803. He was baptized in the Camagüey Cathedral.

He was born into a noble and affluent planter family of Camagüey. He was an elder relative of Salvador Cisneros Betancourt. His family heritage links back to the Bettencourt surname and Jean de Béthencourt, the figure who initiated the Canary Islands' colonization in 1402.

Betancourt was an early student of Félix Varela. He studied in his hometown of Camagüey until the early 1820s.

Career
In 1822, he was sent to the United States to complete his studies in Philadelphia and gained employment at a trading house.

In 1823, a young Betancourt participated in a delegation of a Cuban independentist group tied to Antonio Valero de Bernabé. The group traveled from New York to La Guaira, Venezuela to seek assistance from Simón Bolívar in overthrowing the Spanish colonial government. Bolívar, however, believed that the timing was not appropriate for their plans. He was also invited to travel along with the delegation to Columbia. Back in New York, he developed associations with influential South American and Cuban figures based in New York, among them José Antonio Saco. Betancourt focused his efforts on journalism and contributed to the Weekly Messenger ("El Mensajero Semanal"), a Spanish-language newspaper published by Félix Varela.

In 1834, upon his return to Cuba, he undertook extensive work to improve the country's economy and social infrastructure, such as establishing schools and constructing Cuba's first railway line. In 1837, along with two other landowners, he successfully obtained the right to build a railway from the city of Camagüey to the port of Nuevitas. Betancourt presided over a horse-drawn railway service called Ferrocarril de Camagüey a Nuevitas.

He became a well-known writer associated with the costumbrismo movement. Under the alias El Lugareño, he wrote for El Fanal de Camagüey in 1837, publishing insightful articles on science, literature, and critiques of industry, colonization, and agriculture.

In the 1840s, he was actively involved in the campaign to annex Cuba to the United States, joining the annexationist cause. His suspected involvement in revolutionary activities against the colonial government led to his exile in 1846. Under orders from Captain General Leopoldo O'Donnell, he was forced to emigrate to the United States. The exiled Cuban joined Club de la Habana, a network of annexationists in the United States in 1847.

He organized the first Cuban Revolutionary Junta of New York in 1848, and was an editor of the annexationist propaganda paper La Verdad. 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. Polk declined to provide support for the insurgency and instead proposed that the United States offer Spain $100 million for Cuba, a proposal that was turned down by Spain. The formal inauguration of the Cuban Junta association took place on October 19, 1952. The inaugural meeting appointed Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros as president, Manuel De J. Arango as vice president, Porfirio Valiente as Secretary, Jose Elias Hernandez as Vice Secretary, and Domingo de Goicouria as Treasurer. 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. The first Cuban Junta lasted until 1855 and Betancourt remained a supporter of Cuba's independence, albeit with reduced involvement.

Betancourt visited Europe in 1856, finding residence first in Florence, Italy. He married Doña María Monserrate Canalejo e Hidalgo-Gato in Havana on September 7, 1857. Their union bore fruit in the birth of their son, Alfonso Betancourt y Canalejo, born in Florence, in February 1859. Following a period in Paris, he went back to Cuba in 1861 and resumed his work in journalism.

Death
Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros died in Havana, Cuba on December 7, 1866.