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Michio Ezaki

【#1332】Japan’s Position Seeks to Restore Democracy in Venezuela

Michio Ezaki ／ 2026.01.14 (Wed)


January 13, 2026

　
How should we view the United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro? Some say that the U.S. action violates the United Nations Charter and international law, and that we should not tolerate any attempt to change the status quo by force.

What needs to be clarified here is why the Trump administration captured the Venezuelan president.

Trump administration’s logic

In Venezuela under the Maduro regime which inaugurated in 2013, control-oriented economic policies (including price and exchange rate controls, and business and farmland expropriations) have shrunk investment, greatly reduced production, caused hyperinflation, and brought about long-term negative growth and chronic shortages of medicine and food, leading millions of people to flow out of the country. However, the regime, while keeping power through supposedly fraudulent elections, has repeated human rights violations by security forces, including excessive use of force against anti-government demonstrators, arbitrary and unjustifiable detention, and torture. Moreover, Maduro and his subordinates teamed up with forces designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations to smuggle cocaine to the U.S. and other countries, and linked up with foreign powers (China, Russia, Cuba, etc.) to threaten the security of the U.S.

Therefore, the Trump administration decided to capture Maduro in a bid to support Venezuela’s economic reconstruction and democratization in order to respond to massive refugees, activities of drug and terrorist organizations, and military threats from hostile countries. It did not intend to commit aggression against Venezuela or occupy it unlawfully.

Takaichi’s deliberate comment

Based on such circumstances, Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi issued the following comment on January 4:

“Regarding the situation in Venezuela, the Japanese government has always appealed for the importance of restoring democracy as soon as possible. Japan has always respected fundamental values and principles such as freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Based on the consistent Japanese position, the Japanese government will continue to make every effort to protect Japanese nationals in close cooperation with relevant countries, including other Group of Seven countries and regional countries, and will promote diplomatic efforts to restore democracy and stabilize the situation in Venezuela.”

In short, Japan, which respects “fundamental values and principles such as freedom, democracy, and the rule of law,” has always appealed for “the importance of restoring democracy in Venezuela as soon as possible” and took the occasion of the incident to insist that it would like to make “efforts to restore democracy and stabilize the situation in Venezuela.” Japan’s position is that it cannot tolerate or justify any political leader to undermine fundamental values and principles such as freedom, democracy, and the rule of law for the reason that sending troops to capture Maduro was out of line.

Japan’s National Security Strategy, first formulated by the second Abe administration in 2013, states that the goal of national security is to protect the lives of the Japanese people and Japan’s territories, sovereignty, and prosperity while maintaining and defending universal values such as freedom, democracy, basic human rights, and the rule of law. I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm that Japan’s position is to proactively contribute to peace by enhancing free and open international order based on the rule of law.

Michio Ezaki is a member of the Planning Committee at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a specially-appointed professor at Reitaku University.