Jewish philanthropist polls in second place for Chilean presidency
Farkas – who isn't even running for the job – famously gave $10,000 to the families of each of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for over two months in 2010.
By LAHAV HARKOVActor Keanu Reeves (R) and Chilean businessman Leonardo Farkas (L) sit in a restaurant at Zapallar town, some 181 km (121 miles) of Santiago, August 16, 2009. Reeves is in Chile to meet with Farkas to discuss possible investment in Reeves' movie project, local media reported.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Leonardo Farkas, a philanthropist and businessman with a flair for theatrics, came in second place in a poll for the Chilean presidency last week – even though he is not actually running.A poll by Activa Research Citizen Pulse put Farkas in second place when asked, “Who would you prefer to be the next president of Chile, excluding [current president] Sebastián Piñera?” He received 6.7% support. The leading candidate in the poll, Las Condes Mayor Joaquín Lavín, received 13.3%.Farkas is not running for president, but he has tweeted political messages in recent weeks. A day after the poll was released, he called for more government aid for Chileans. “Vote with your heart. Your duty is to ensure the good of my compatriots! Remember: We are in a democracy,” he said in a tweet.Last month, he wrote: “The homeland suffers and as I warned, thousands of compatriots are dying in a pandemic. Damn those who, being able to help and decide concrete solutions, only fight and defend their personal interests. Chile will not forget.”Farkas is the son of Hungarian Jews who escaped to South America in 1939. They owned mining businesses in Brazil and Chile that were nationalized.The businessman, who has a bright-yellow mop of long wavy hair and a penchant for throwing flashy parties with celebrity musical acts, was a pianist and bar singer in Las Vegas and on cruise ships in his 20s, sharing stages with Tom Jones and Julio Iglesias.Farkas returned to Chile in 2005 to try his hand in the iron-mining business. He gained fame soon after due to his appearances in the annual Teletón, a telethon to raise funds for disabled children, when he became the first person to donate one billion pesos ($2 million) in 2009.A New York Times profile in 2010 reported that he was the first mine owner to pay employees an ethical wage, and he helped fund a major government housing project. The profile described Farkas as a sort of folk hero, beloved by Chile’s poor but resented by the country’s conservative business community.Farkas also famously gave $10,000 to the families of each of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for more than two months in 2010.In addition, he is a major donor to Jewish causes, including the March of the Living and Chabad. The Chabad website says Farkas favors funding the writing of new Torah scrolls to be donated to places in need; in 2014, he commissioned seven new Sifrei Torah sent to Chabad centers on six continents.Farkas donates money each month to the family of Zidan Saif, the Druze policeman killed trying to stop the Palestinian terrorists who massacred Jews praying in a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood in 2014, a source in Israel’s Chilean immigrant community told The Jerusalem Post last Wednesday.“I should never have said I would consider being president of Chile,” Farkas told the newspaper. “That created enemies from all over. The businessmen want me out; they are happy the way they are.”Farkas tied in last week’s poll with Recoleta Mayor Daniel Jadue, the Chilean Communist Party’s candidate for president and the grandson of Palestinian Arab immigrants to Chile.Jadue recently claimed that Chilean media were “bought by the Zionist community,” which is “ousting” left-wing and pro-Palestinian journalists.“International Zionism is beginning to have a significantly important influence on them,” he said. “Indeed, it is a transnational power.”Chile is thought to have the largest Palestinian Arab diaspora outside the Middle East, with 500,000 citizens who are descendants of Arabs who left the region during World War I.Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
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