The predator of seville: manuel blanco vela's decade of deceit

For years, Manuel Blanco Vela, a Spanish tour guide, preyed on vulnerable young women from abroad, luring them into his hotel rooms with seemingly harmless intentions.

The trust he exploited

Blanco Vela's company, Discover Excursions, offered trips to students from Spain, Portugal and Morocco, cultivating a reputation as a friendly and trustworthy guide.

This sense of trust, coupled with the company's apparent affiliation with universities, allowed him to gain access to his unsuspecting victims.

But beneath the surface, Blanco Vela harbored a dark secret. He repeatedly exploited the trust of the young women in his care, using alcohol to incapacitate them before subjecting them to sexual assaults in his hotel rooms.

The survivors speak out

It wasn't until 2018, when Gabrielle Vega, a 19-year-old student, appeared on US television detailing her harrowing experience with Blanco Vela, that the full extent of his actions began to come to light.

Vega's courage sparked a wave of connections with other survivors, with more than 30 women coming forward to share their own similar accounts of assault.

Among those who spoke out was Lauren Bajorek, a 21-year-old American student who tragically died after falling from a balcony at Blanco Vela's Seville apartment in 2015. Despite her death not being prosecuted as a homicide, Blanco Vela was later found civilly liable.

As investigations and survivor testimony continued to mount, the true scale of Blanco Vela's predatory behavior became clear, with estimates suggesting he may have assaulted or attempted to assault up to 100 women over the course of a decade.

The fruits of courage

Vega's bravery in speaking out ultimately led to Blanco Vela's conviction in 2025, with the Spanish National Court finding him guilty of sexually assaulting three American students and sentencing him to nine years in prison.

Her lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, hailed Vega's perseverance, saying: