"La engañadora" (translated in the US as "The Gay Deceiver" or simply "The Deceiver") is a song written by violinist Enrique Jorrín and first recorded by Orquesta América in March 1953. Shortly after its release it became Panart's biggest-selling single. It is widely considered the first cha-cha-cha and one of the most influential Cuban songs.

Born in 1926 in Pinar del Río, Enrique Jorrín took up the violin at age 12. He later attended the Municipal Conservatory of Havana and by 1943 he was a member of Arcaño y sus Maravillas, Cuba's most important charanga. The band, directed by Antonio Arcaño and featuring brothers Israel López "Cachao" and Orestes López, who wrote most of the group's repertoire, was the main exponent of the danzón, a popular style of ballroom music. At the time, the López brothers were experimenting with the last section of the danzón, in which they incorporated a montuno, giving rise to the so-called danzón nuevo ritmo, the origin of the mambo. During his time with Arcaño, Jorrín grew as a danzón composer, and by the time he left the band to join Orquesta América, in the late 1940s, he was a well-respected musician.

Jorrín realized that mambo was very difficult to dance compared to other ballroom styles due to its high syncopation. Thus, he decided to alter its melody to make it more danceable and accessible. Jorrín applied this principles to "La engañadora", a song he composed in Havana sometime in 1951, the year it was first performed before an audience.

Between 1953 and 1954 it is estimated that Panart sold 13,000 copies of the single, something completely unprecedented for Cuba's first independent record label. On June 30, 1953 a cover was recorded by singer Miguelito Valdés backed by pianist René Hernández's conjunto, and billed by Seeco as a ritmo de cha cha chá. The name "cha-cha-chá" actually came from the refrain of its original B-side, "Silver Star", which also became a hit. In the original Panart issue, "La engañadora" is billed as a "mambo-rumba" and "Silver Star" as a danzón. Miguelito Valdés' cover was followed by many other versions recorded in Cuba, Mexico and he US, by artists such as René Touzet, Tito Rodríguez and Pérez Prado, establishing the song as a Cuban standard.

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