During the handover session carried out by the government of Abelardo De La Espriella in Riohacha on September 17, the president ordered the Ministry of Education to start an investigation against the rector of the University of La Guajira, Carlos Arturo Robles Julio, for alleged irregularities in the management of the Institution’s funds.
“I want the actions of Mr. Rector, Carlos Robles, to be reviewed in light of a number of very serious facts that have been brought to the attention of the national Government,” stated the President. He added that he forwarded the information to the Prosecutor’s Office for evaluation.
The letter from Viviane Morales
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO investigated and established that this is not the first alert from the Government involving that official.
There was already a letter from the then Minister of Education, Viviane Morales, who formally requested a special assignment in the Prosecutor’s Office to expedite investigations against Robles Julio linking him to a drug trafficking organization.
Although the file appears as private, it was established that in October 2025 the Prosecutor’s Office included the name of the rector of the University of La Guajira in an investigation related to a criminal network, dedicated to drug trafficking, where it is indicated that the official would be responsible for coordinating the shipment of cocaine to the United States.
Robles Julio, who has been director of the University since 2010 and who has categorically denied any irregular conduct, appears in the file as ‘Kaloy’, who, along with 8 others implicated in ‘The Guajira Cartel’, would also coordinate a criminal war in the north of the country.
In response to these accusations, the rector has stated that it is extortion by an anti-narcotics prosecutor from the Bogotá Sectional.
The properties
In any case, investigators are already probing the assets and properties of Robles for these matters.
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO had access to a first report of the properties registered in the name of Robles Julio.
Among his assets are 6 properties in the city of Riohacha, La Guajira.
As well as a house located in the exclusive Riomar area, in Barranquilla, Atlántico.
Additionally, the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO established that the rector opened a business in 1998 at the La Guajira Chamber of Commerce engaged in wholesale trade of food products, business administration activities, construction of civil engineering works, and support activities for the extraction of oil and natural gas.
Precautionary measures
In fact, since 2024 a place called Sales de Manaure in the northern zone of Riohacha appears in his name, dedicated to the same activities.
EL TIEMPO also found a case in which the Comptroller’s Office decreed the seizure of his personal bank accounts, for an amount of 18 million 492 thousand pesos, within the framework of a fiscal responsibility process related to the execution of resources from the General System of Royalties destined for master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of La Guajira.
(Consult all articles from the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO here)
Regarding this process, the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO learned of a tutela action by Robles, which was dismissed. The Comptroller’s Office identified a specific inconsistency of 19 million 975 thousand pesos between the cash balances reported as of March 2022 and the bank master account statements of the master’s project. In response, the University of La Guajira stated that this difference was due to an involuntary typing error.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
Follow us now on Facebook
