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A friend later told her that she had been in the bathroom with Blanco Vela for around 30 minutes.
Vega didn’t complete her studies and was left traumatised by the incident, eventually developing PTSD.
After Vega came forward about her experience with Blanco Vela, students Hayley McAleese and Carly Van Ostenbridge also shared their stories on Facebook. The pair had been studying abroad in 2017 when they took a guided trip to Lagos, Portugal, with Blanco Vela. They claimed that he had lured them into a hotel room and asked them to do a “sexy dance”. When they tried to leave, he allegedly tried to stop them.
They managed to get out of the hotel and sought help from male friends, who confronted Blanco Vela. “We started asking him questions like, ‘did you make any advances on the girls’, and rather than just flat out answering ‘no,’ at first he was like, ‘I would never do that, I need to protect my reputation, I can’t do stuff like that,'” one of the witnesses told The Tab in 2018. Blanco Vela reportedly admitted “stuff happened” but denied assault.
The women later reported the incident to local authorities, but were told that proceeding with any case would likely be too complicated, given that the incident took place in Portugal and Blanco Vela was Spanish.
Following Vega’s interview on Today and McAlesse and Van Ostenbridge’s statement, more than 30 women reportedly came forward with similar stories.
Europa Press News/Getty Images
Where is Manuel Blanco Vela now?
Vega and her fellow survivors spent years trying to spread the word about Blanco Vela. In 2025, he was finally found guilty of assaulting Vega, McAleese and Van Ostenbridge in Spain’s National Court. He was sentenced to a total of 8.5 years in prison.
Per RTVE, the court also banned Blanco Vela from working as a tour guide for seven and a half years. He was also sentenced to 7.5 years of post-prison supervised release. He was ordered to pay €40,000 in compensation Vega and €1,500 to each of the other two victims.
As of February 2025, Blanco Vela is on provisional release pending the finalisation of his sentencing, per El Pais.
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