Hugo Chávez has said he is restoring Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a "new era" in relations after exchanging greetings with Barack Obama at a regional summit.
Venezuela's socialist president told reporters at the Summit of the Americas yesterday that he will propose Roy Chaderton, his current ambassador to the Organisation of American States, as his country's new representative.
The announcement crowns a week in which Obama rejected two centuries of US "heavy-handedness" towards Latin America and raised hopes for a rapprochement with Cuba, with which it severed ties 48 years ago. Venezuela under Chávez has become a close ally of Cuba.
Chávez expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in September in solidarity with the leftist Bolivian president, Evo Morales, who ordered out the top US diplomat in his country for allegedly helping the opposition incite violence.
Washington reciprocated by kicking out both nations' ambassadors.
Chávez's decision on US relations came after a day of interaction with the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and other diplomats at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
The US state department said Chavez had approached Clinton during summit sessions yesterday and the two discussed returning ambassadors to their posts in Caracas and Washington.
"This is a positive development that will help advance US interests, and the state department will now work to further this shared goal," said Robert Wood, a state department spokesman.
Chávez had stormy relations with the previous US administration and once dubbed George Bush the devil. He has warmed to the new American president at this weekend's summit, though Obama had been critical of him for his alleged harbouring of Colombian rebels.
Yesterday, Chávez gave Obama a book about foreign exploitation of Latin America and repeated in English during a luncheon speech what he told the US president at their first meeting the night before: "I want to be your friend." Obama exchanged handshakes and pats on the back with the Venezuelan president.
Chávez said he had instructed his foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, to begin the process of making Chaderton his new US ambassador.
"He's my candidate," said Chávez. "We have to wait for the United States to give the appropriate acceptance."
At the 34-nation summit's inauguration on Friday, Obama won repeated applause with his promise to be an equal partner in the region and expressed his desire for a "new beginning" with Cuba, which has been suspended from the Organisation of American States for 47 years.