Washington Benavides (3 March 1930 – 24 September 2017) was a Uruguayan poet, professor and musician.

After that he devoted himself heavily to poetry, eventually earning himself a place among the most important Uruguayan poets of his generation.

During the dictatorship of Juan María Bordaberry, he promoted the revolutionary possibilities of popular music.

He later joined the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Letters of the University of the Republic, Uruguay.

His poems have been set to music by Daniel Viglietti, Alfredo Zitarrosa, Héctor Numa Moraes, and Eduardo Darnauchans,[1] such as in the songs "El instrumento", Bismark Vega "Dialogo de musicos",[clarification needed] "Como un jazmín del país", "Milonga del Cordobés", "Yo no soy de por aquí", and "Tanta vida en cuatro versos".