Demonstration in Villacarrillo (Jaén), in December 2013, after the disappearance of the Malian immigrant Tidiany Coulibaly. José Manuel Pedrosa
Tidiany Coulibaly, a 22-year-old from Mali, went missing on December 17, 2013. De Ibrahima, another 32-year-old Senegalese immigrant, was reported missing on January 5, 2021. The two seasonal workers had in common that they worked in the olive harvest in Villacarrillo (10,545 inhabitants, Jaén) and they did it with the same businessman: Ginés Vicente López.
The two employees had confronted their employer because of the alleged labor exploitation they suffered in the olive grove.
This Monday agents of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard have traveled to Villacarrillo to inspect a garage and other properties of the agricultural entrepreneur in relation to the disappearance of the two seasonal workers.
The search operation has been reopened at the request of the Court of Instruction Number 1 of Villacarrillo.
There is no arrest warrant for Ginés Vicente, who was arrested in his day accused of the disappearance of Coulibaly in 2013. After being tried, the court acquitted him for lack of evidence for the disappearance of the Malian immigrant, although he was convicted of other crimes: against the right of workers, to one year in prison;
for a crime against the Administration of Justice, to a year and a half;
and for electric power fraud to a penalty of two months of fine at a rate of 20 euros per day.
On December 17, 2013, Coulibaly and other seasonal workers who worked in the crew of businessman Vicente had an argument with the boss, who was criticized for paying them 20 euros per day, when the farm agreement that year stipulated it at 50 .37 euros.
Shortly after the discussion, the seasonal worker from Mali disappeared and since then nothing has been heard of him, despite the great search effort organized by the Civil Guard in the days and weeks that followed.
The large community of immigrants settled in the province of Jaén during the olive campaign, with the support of displaced Malians from various parts of the country, staged a demonstration on January 6, 2014 to ask that the search for their compatriot not cease.
“The fight will continue, we will not stop until we find Tidiany,” Abdoulaye Sissoko, secretary of the High Council of Malians in Spain, a group that represents the 14,000 citizens of the African country settled in Spain, proclaimed then.
The protest ended with major disturbances and damage to street furniture, which two days later led to a rally of rejection by the residents of Villacarrillo.
Shortly after Tidiany's disappearance, on January 10, 2014, the agents in charge of the investigation found some earmuffs that Tidiany always wore on the floor of the La Moratilla farm.