Lambayeque declares November 12 a non-working day due to the visit of Pope Leo XIV

The Regional Government of Lambayeque declared Thursday, November 12, 2026, as a compensable non-working day for the public sector and a voluntary non-working day for the private sector throughout the department, on the occasion of the apostolic visit of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. The decision was adopted through Regional Ordinance No. 000017-2026-GR.LAMB/CR, approved by the Regional Council in an extraordinary session on November 6, 2026, and published in the Official Gazette El Peruano on Saturday, November 7, 2026, in the Legal Norms section.

The regional regulation adds to the days already declared non-working for Lambayeque by Supreme Decree No. 020-2026-TR, which set Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of November 2026 under the conditions of that provision. Consequently, the department accumulates three consecutive days of exceptional scope surrounding the papal visit, which the Executive declared of national interest through Supreme Decree No. 037-2026-RE, modified by Supreme Decree No. 043-2026-RE, and which will take place from November 11 to 16, 2026, in the departments of Cajamarca, Cusco, Lambayeque, Lima, and Ucayali, as well as the Constitutional Province of Callao.

Basis: congestion, security, and mass displacements

The technical support is Technical Report No. 000007-2026-GR.LAMB/GRTPE, dated November 5, 2026, issued by the Regional Management of Labor and Employment Promotion with a favorable opinion. That report warns that the coincidence of the ordinary working day with the mobilization of citizens and visitors would increase vehicular congestion on access roads, hinder security controls, and restrict the circulation of emergency vehicles; it also mentions the need to facilitate early travel toward the Pampas de Pimentel.

The proposal also included Legal Report No. 0000942-2026-GR.LAMB/ORAJ and is based on Law No. 27867, the Organic Law of Regional Governments. The ordinance specifies that the measure is exceptional and temporary in nature: it does not create a new national holiday nor does it definitively exempt the fulfillment of the working day. The text is signed by the regional governor Jorge Luis Pérez Flores.

Scope of application: mandatory public, voluntary private

The second article delimits the territorial and subjective scope of the regulation:

• It covers the scope of the department of Lambayeque, comprised of the provinces of Chiclayo, Lambayeque, and Ferreñafe.
• The declaration applies to the bodies, dependencies, and executing units of the Regional Government of Lambayeque.
• Public entities from other levels of government and local governments may evaluate their adoption, respecting their administrative autonomy.
• Private sector workplaces may voluntarily opt in, subject to a prior agreement between employers and workers.

Compensation of hours and continuity of services

The third article provides that the hours not worked on Thursday, November 12, shall be compensated in the following weeks, according to the schedule established by the head of each entity or dependency. In the private sector, recovery will be carried out in accordance with the agreement between the employer and their workers.

The fourth article obliges the heads of bodies, dependencies, and executing units to guarantee the continuity of essential public services: identifying indispensable personnel and establishing shifts, guards, and contingency mechanisms, with priority in health, emergency care, citizen security, sanitation, supply, and transport. The fifth article charges the Regional General Management with coordinating actions with traffic and security authorities to keep emergency routes operational and reduce impacts on those who do not participate in the events.

Validity and dissemination

The Sole Final Complementary Provision establishes that the ordinance enters into force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette El Peruano, that is, November 8, 2026. The seventh article orders its publication also in the newspaper in charge of judicial notices in the region and on the institutional portal of the Regional Government of Lambayeque (www.regionlambayeque.gob.pe).

The sixth article entrusts the implementation to the Regional General Management, in coordination with the Regional Management of Labor and Employment Promotion and the Executive Office of Human Resources, and provides for the communication of the measure to public entities, local governments, and representative organizations of the private sector.

For the region’s workers and employers, the ordinance defines an atypical work week: the public sector will have three consecutive non-working days (November 12, 13, and 14) with the obligation to compensate hours, while the private sector will freely decide whether to adopt the workday of Thursday the 12th, in a context of heavy visitor movement due to the papal visit.

Source: Official Gazette El Peruano, Saturday, November 7, 2026, Legal Norms section, pp. 126-128 (official reference: 516526273-6).