MARACAY, Venezuela (Reuters) – The United States and Venezuela will soon reinstate ambassadors expelled in a diplomatic spat last year, a sign of warmer relations between President Hugo Chavez and what he calls the US “empire.”

Leftist Chavez has toned down his strident criticism of US foreign policy since Barack Obama took office in January, partly because the US president is popular in Latin America in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush. Venezuela is one of the United States’ top crude oil suppliers. Obama has promised to seek to engage with countries Washington views as problematic and Chavez and US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton agreed at a summit in April to work toward reinstating the diplomats.

At the same summit Obama shook hands with the socialist Venezuelan leader.

Chavez expelled the US envoy to Caracas in September and Washington responded by kicking out Venezuela’s ambassador in a dispute involving charges by Venezuelan ally Bolivia that Washington was meddling in its internal affairs.

A source at the US State Department said Ambassador Patrick Duddy will return to Caracas, without giving details. His counterpart Bernardo Alvarez is expected in Washington this week.

“Bernardo Alvarez returns to Washington this Friday, relations have been reestablished,” said a source at Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry source who asked not to be identified. US State Department spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton did not confirm that the diplomats were returning, but said, “Since Secretary Clinton and President Chavez spoke at the Summit of the Americas, both our governments have worked toward the goal of returning ambassadors to our respective capitals.”

The United States will also send an ambassador to Syria for the first time in four years, a State Department official said yesterday, in a further sign of Obama’s commitment to engaging with long-time foes.

Republican critics of Obama, a Democrat, have questioned how effective Obama’s engagement strategy will be. Chavez’s main foreign policy aim has long been to reduce the United States’ global influence and who has recently been criticized for stifling opposition in the OPEC nation.