Lula recognized the equally bs 2018 elections, it’s not like Maduro won that election either.

https://elpais.com/america/2024-03-02/nicolas-maduro-asegura...

Lula rolled out the red carpet for the venezuelan dictator months into his mandate, welcomed him onto our soil with full military honors. Everybody knows he's a friend of Maduro and many other communist dictators. Despite this, the judge involved in the Twitter case used to censor any speech associating him with dictators as "fake news".

If he hasn't recognized the results by now, it's because the situation there must be so bad the political repercussions of doing so will be too great even for him. Notably, he hasn't condemned his dictator buddy either. He's not saying much of anything and letting it play out. His silence on the matter also speaks volumes.

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Vel%C3%A1zquez NATO members regularly interfere in other countries elections, and have a long history of doing so especially in South America.

It’s widely accepted as an international norm, dating back to at least to the agreement of the Monroe doctrine with the UK, and continuing to at least 2022 with respect to Paraguay.