Betances fled to New York City in April 1869, where he again joined Basora in his efforts to organize Puerto Rican revolutionaries into additional activities leading to independence. He joined the Cuban Revolutionary Junta, whose members were more successful at their drive for armed revolution for Cuba, which had started with the ""Grito de Yara"", just two weeks after the Grito de Lares. He also lobbied the United States Congress successfully against an annexation of the Dominican Republic by the United States, requested in a vote by a majority of voters in a referendum in 1869. He also befriended Venezuelan military leader and former president José Antonio Páez in his final days. Betances stayed in New York from April 1869 through February 1870.