Background
Betancourt was born in Guatiré,Guatire, in the state of Miranda, on Feb. 22, 1908. For having taken part in a demonstration against the dictatorship of President Juan Vicente Gomez, Betancourt was imprisoned for a few weeks in February 1928. Upon his release, he helped organize a rebellion; when this uprising failed, he went into exile. He returned to Venezuela during the regime of Gomez's successor, Eleazar Lopez Contreras. In 1941 Betancourt helped found Accion Democratica, a social democratic political party in opposition to the Lopez Contreras government. Accion Democratica was in power for the next three years, during which time Betancourt held a number of government posts, including that of provisional president. In November 1948, the Accion Democratica regime was overthrown by a military rebellion which again drove Betancourt into exile. He spent the ten years of Marcos Perez Jimenez' dictatorship in exile directing the underground activities of his party. When the Perez Jimenez dictatorship was overthrown in 1958, Betancourt returned to Venezuela and late in December was elected president for a five-year term. Betancourt died in New York City on Sept. 28, 1981.