Fujimori travels to El Salvador and Madrid: Galarreta assumes the presidential office

The President of the Republic, Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi, will leave the national territory in two stages—from October 28 to 31 and from November 2 to 6, 2026—therefore, the presidential office will be exercised by the first vice president Luis Fernando Galarreta Velarde and the office of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) will be in the charge of the Minister of Defense, Rafael Jorge Belaunde Llosa. This is provided for in Supreme Resolution No. 307-2026-PCM, signed in Lima on October 26, 2026, and published in the official newspaper El Peruano on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, in its Legal Norms pages.

The legal framework of the assignment

The regulation is based on articles 115, 126, and 127 of the Political Constitution of Peru, referring to the absence of the head of the Executive Branch and the management of the ministries. Its direct precedent is Legislative Resolution No. 32742, from the Senate of the Republic, which authorized the head of state to leave the country on the two indicated dates.

The text specifies that the assignment to Galarreta Velarde applies “in both cases for as long as the absence of the Madam President of the Republic lasts,” while the assignment of the PCM office to Belaunde Llosa operates “for as long as the impediment of the titular head lasts.” The resolution is endorsed by Galarreta Velarde himself, in his capacity as President of the Council of Ministers.

The detail of the assigned periods is as follows:

• Office of the Presidency of the Republic: from October 28 to 31, 2026, and from November 2 to 6, 2026.
• Office of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers: the same two windows, October 28-31 and November 2-6, 2026.

Two official trips with different agendas

The first trip takes the leader to the city of San Salvador and the municipality of Tecoluca, in the Republic of El Salvador, for an Official Visit with an agenda scheduled for October 29 and 30. According to the recitals, the agenda includes:

• A private meeting with the President of the Republic of El Salvador.
• An expanded meeting with ministers of state.
• Meetings with the Salvadoran ministers of Justice and Public Security, Health, and Education, Science, and Technology.
• Visits to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), an emblematic school, and the Rosales Hospital.

The second leg is destined for the city of Madrid, in the Kingdom of Spain, from November 2 to 6, 2026, to participate in the XXX Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government. The presidential agenda is scheduled between November 3 and 5 and includes the Summit’s plenary session, bilateral meetings with heads of State and Government, protocol events with high-ranking authorities, and the sessions of the Business Meeting on the sidelines of the conclave. The president will land on national territory on November 6.

A ministerial delegation also abroad

The presidential assignment coincides with a week of absences in the Cabinet. In line with the supreme resolutions published on October 24, the travel of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfonso Carlos España y Garcés-Alvear, to El Salvador (R.S. N° 303-2026-PCM) and to Lisbon, Carcavelos, and Madrid (R.S. N° 304-2026-PCM) was authorized, with his office being entrusted to the Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation and the Minister of Energy and Mines, respectively. The travel of the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Ernesto Julio Álvarez Miranda, to El Salvador (R.S. N° 302-2026-PCM) was also authorized, with his office entrusted to the Minister of Production, Juan Carlos Requejo Alemán.

The arrangement recalls that Legislative Resolution N° 32742 enabled both presidential trips, so the constitutional coverage of the exercise of the office is fulfilled without the need for an additional regulation.

Impact

With R.S. N° 307-2026-PCM, the country has a defined chain of command for nearly two weeks of international agenda: Galarreta Velarde exercises the Presidency and Belaunde Llosa leads the PCM, during a period in which the heads of Foreign Affairs and Justice are also traveling. The regulation does not grant additional rights nor modify competencies: it only temporarily transfers the office of two Executive bodies while the head of State is outside the territory.

Source: El Peruano, N° 19600, Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Legal Norms section, pág. 2 (official reference: R.S. N° 307-2026-PCM, code 2568626-1).