Legislative Assembly extends the State of Exception with Decree 664

The Legislative Assembly of the Republic of El Salvador extended the State of Exception through Decree No. 664, published in the Official Gazette Volume No. 452, Number 177, on Thursday, September 24, 2026, on pages 3 to 5 of the Legislative Branch section. The regulation was sanctioned by President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez and countersigned by the Minister of Public Security and Justice, Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, at the Presidential House on the same September 24. With its insertion into the official bulletin, the extension is formally published.

Decree No. 664 heads the summary of the issue under the heading Legislative Branch, the section reserved for regulations approved by parliament. The text occupies three pages of the bulletin and is titled “Prolongation of the State of Exception,” the same designation used in previous renewals of the measure.

The same issue of the Official Gazette contains five other legislative regulations, confirming that the extension was processed along with the rest of the week’s parliamentary agenda:

• Decree No. 669: reforms to the Labor Code (pp. 6-8).
• Decree No. 670: reforms to the Law on Additional Cash Compensation (pp. 9-10).
• Decree No. 671: reforms to Legislative Decree No. 140, of November 6, 1997 (pp. 11-13).
• Decree No. 672: reforms to the Comprehensive Pension System Law (pp. 14-16).
• Decree No. 673: transitory provisions declaring the Christmas bonus as non-taxable income up to a limit of one thousand five hundred dollars (pp. 17-19).

The signatories of the extension

The decree bears the signature of the board of directors of the Legislative Branch:

• Ernesto Alfredo Castro Aldana, president.
• Suecy Beverley Callejas Estrada, first vice president.
• Katheryn Alexia Rivas González, second vice president.
• Elisa Marcela Rosales Ramírez, first secretary.
• José Serafín Orantes Rodríguez, second secretary.
• Reinaldo Alcides Carballo Carballo, third secretary.

The sanction and publication correspond to the Executive Branch: President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez and the Minister of Public Security and Justice, Héctor Gustavo Villatoro, sign the “PUBLISH IT” from the Presidential House, in San Salvador, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of September, two thousand twenty-six. This state portfolio is the one that habitually countersigns these types of extensions.

Immediate background

The previous renewal is recorded in Decree No. 645, also titled “Prolongation of the State of Exception,” published in the Official Gazette Volume No. 452, Number 158, on Thursday, August 27, 2026, pp. 3-5. That decree was signed by the same board of directors of the Legislative Branch and similarly countersigned by Bukele Ortez and Villatoro.

The sequence between Decree No. 645, dated August 27, and Decree No. 664, dated September 24, documents a monthly renewal pace of the measure, which the parliament always publishes in the Legislative Body section of the bulletin.

Impact for readers

The publication of Decree No. 664 in the Official Gazette Volume No. 452, Number 177, is the act that provides legal certainty to the extension: from its insertion in the bulletin, the prolongation of the State of Exception is formally communicated to the citizenry and institutions. The relevant fact is that the country’s most sensitive security measure is extended once again by decision of the Legislative Body and with the endorsement of the Executive Body, and that the official document certifying this is Decree No. 664, available on pages 3 to 5 of the September 24, 2026 issue.

Source: Official Gazette, Volume No. 452, Number 177, September 24, 2026, Legislative Body, pp. 3-5 (official reference: Decree No. 664).