Joaquín Godoy Ibáñez

Joaquín Godoy Ibáñez (born 25 January 1977) is a Chilean commercial engineer and politician. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies for 13th District (Valparaíso, Juan Fernández, and Easter Island) from 2006 to 2018 and was First Vice President of the Chamber (April 2013–March 2014).

Initially a member of the National Renewal (Renovación Nacional, RN) party, he later co-founded and led the Amplitude (Amplitud) movement before becoming an independent in 2017. Godoy is known for his participation in parliamentary commissions on economics, culture, and natural resources.^[1][2]

Born in Santiago to Carmen Ibáñez and Domingo Godoy Matte, both former deputies, Godoy completed his early education at Craighouse School. He earned a degree in commercial engineering from Finis Terrae University. Before entering national politics, he served as campaign manager for his mother and held leadership roles within RN’s youth organization. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Valparaíso.

Joaquín Godoy Ibáñez was born on 25 January 1977 in Valparaíso, into a politically active family. Early in his career, he managed the parliamentary campaign of his mother in 2002 election, and later headed the youth wing of RN (2003–2004), garnering 70% of the vote in his election as president.

He married Paula Valech Kraushaar in January 2010, and they have a daughter. Professionally, Godoy worked in political organizing and public outreach, including development of a free pre-university program in Valparaíso and workshops for small business owners in local markets. In 2004, he stood for mayor of Valparaíso under the Alianza coalition but was not elected.

Godoy was first elected deputy in 2005 for District 13, succeeding his mother. He secured re-election in 2009 and 2013, serving until 2018. In the Chamber, he served on key commissions such as Defense, Economy, Internal Government, Fisheries, SMEs, Culture and the Arts, Finances (which he presided over in 2011–2012), Environment, and Water Resources. He also participated in special committees on culture and firefighters.

In January 2014, Godoy resigned from RN alongside Karla Rubilar and Pedro Browne, citing a lack of ideological space within the party, and co-founded the centrist-liberal movement Amplitude (Amplitud). He was elected its provisional president in 2015.

He left Amplitude on 6 July 2017 and completed his third term as an independent. Streams of his legislative work include support for the Megapuerto project in Valparaíso and a successful defamation lawsuit against television personality Vasco Moulian in 2012.

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