What Kerry said about Gross

Excerpts from press conference by Secretary of State John Kerry at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

ELISE LABOTT (CNN): Today is the fourth anniversary of Alan Gross’s detainment in Cuba. He says his nation has abandoned him. What do you say to that?

KERRY: With respect to the number of American citizens who are being held in different places, we have been deeply involved in discussions on every one of those citizens. And we have been engaged behind the scenes – which is often the way these issues are best managed – in every single case in order to try to secure the safety of those people, and in order ultimately to be able to secure their release. […]

In the case of Mr. Gross, we’ve had any number of initiatives and outreaches over the last several years and engagement with a number of different individuals who have traveled to Cuba, met with people individually there and elsewhere. And we are currently engaged in some discussions regarding that, which I’m not at liberty to go into in any kind of detail. […]

But these things are often best resolved in quiet diplomacy, under the radar screen, behind the scenes, and that is exactly what we have been pursuing.