National Renewal Youth

Throughout its history, JRN has combined both conservative and liberal trends. On one hand, its branches have delivered support to right-wing allies such as the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) in municipal races in Greater Concepción in 2012,^[13] and publicly endorsed presidential hopeful Laurence Golborne the same year, generating internal friction with party authorities.^[14] At the local level, groups such as the Osorno branch ratified their support for RN candidates in 2013.^[15] These gestures reflected the more traditional, conservative alignment within the youth structure.

At the same time, liberal currents have emerged strongly within JRN. In 2014, its leaders proposed that RN’s declaration of principles should omit references to the 1973 coup d'état, arguing that the party’s future should not remain tied to the legacy of military rule.^[16] In early 2019, members created a WhatsApp group to organize against «Pinochetism», positioning themselves as a generation distant from authoritarian legacies.^[17]

In 2020, JRN leaders even confronted senior RN parliamentarians led by Andrés Allamand by openly supporting the «Approve» option in the constitutional referendum campaign,^[18] a position that contrasted with conservative sectors of the party. That same year, its president declared that history would condemn parties that denied the existence of the social conflict revealed by the 2019 protests.^[19]

After the presidential victory of Gabriel Boric in December 2021, the youth leadership pointed to his success as an example of political renewal and leadership construction for young people across the spectrum.^[20]

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