Juan Yarur Lolas (January 8, 1894 - August 21, 1954) was a Palestinian-Chilean banker.

Biography

Lolas

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

from Palestine with his younger brother Nicolas in 1902 and set out for

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, where they already had relatives in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and Bolivia. After working as peddlers for a few years, the two eventually set up a small textile plant in La Paz in 1929. They were invited by President

Arturo Alessandri Arturo Fortunato Alessandri Palma (; December 20, 1868 – August 24, 1950) was a Chilean political figure and reformer who served thrice as president of Chile, first from 1920 to 1924, then from March to October 1925, and finally from 1932 to ...

in the mid-1930s to set up larger operations in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, even offering generous incentives that included no custom duties on imported machine tools, low tariffs for imported supplies, and a loan exceeding $1 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

from the country's largest bank. The brothers accepted it and founded a cotton manufacturing company in 1936. By 1948, this plant was employing more than 3,000 workers and was producing around 60% of the country’s

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not th ...

, making it the largest textile plant in Latin America at that time. Earlier in 1937, Yarur also co-founded

Banco de Crédito e Inversiones Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI) is a Chilean bank specializing in savings & deposits, securities brokerage, asset management and insurance. BCI was the Latin American partner for Bear Stearns. BCI was formed and is still owned by the Yarur ...

, serving as its president from 1946 to 1954. The bank is still owned by his descendants. Yarur was the president of the Arab colony in Santiago, Chile. Together with the German colony, he tried to hire

Hjalmar Schacht Hjalmar Schacht (born Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht; 22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970, ) was a German economist, banker, centre-right politician, and co-founder in 1918 of the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's Economy Minister, as a "financial adviser" shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, but the plan fell through when it became news. In April 1971, the Yurar textile factory was forcefully nationalised by the Allende government, alongside other successful enterprises owned by Palestinian immigrants. In light of these immigrants' quick economic success, they received relatively little sympathy from the Chilean bourgeoisie.

References

1894 births 1954 deaths People from Santiago Chilean company founders Chilean bankers

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Chile People from Bethlehem {{Chile-bio-stub