Recent talks between a State Department official and a high-level Cuban diplomat have breathed new life into talks over jailed American subcontractor Alan Gross.

Josefina Vidal, director of the North American bureau at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, spent a week in late May in Washington, where she met with Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and other U.S. officials.

Since twice-a-year talks between Cuba and the United States have been suspended, the meeting between Vidal and Jacobson served as an opportunity to raise issues that were normally discussed in those talks.

They included joint efforts against drug trafficking, migration issues and measures to prevent future oil spills.

Gross, 64, was a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development when he was arrested in December 2009 and later convicted of subversion.

He’s serving a 15-year jail sentence in Havana; since his incarceration, the Maryland resident has lost more than 105 pounds.

The U.S. continues to reject the idea of trading Gross for four Cuban intelligence officers convicted of espionage in 1998 and held in a Florida jail since then, said the official.

René González, a fifth Cuban convicted of spying, was released in October 2011 and given three years of probation, which was required to be completed in the United States. But González was allowed to return to Cuba for his father’s funeral in April and a federal judge allowed him to stay there, provided that he renounce his U.S. citizenship..

While the release of any other Cubans convicted of espionage is unlikely, the State Department could make a humanitarian gesture such as granting U.S. visas for the wives of the jailed men that could open the door to Gross’s release.

The official said nothing definitive has been put on the table, but noted “movement” in the case, which has put relations between Washington and Havana in a deep freeze since Gross’s arrest three and a half years ago.

The official also said the State Department was pleased with Vidal’s low-key visit. The last time she got a visa to come to the United States, in April 2012, Vidal participated in rallies aimed at freeing the jailed Cuban spies.

Low-key or not, the visit provoked anger from Cuban-American lawmakers, who wrote Jacobson demanding to know why Vidal had been given a U.S. visa.

“Given her rank at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, her sole mission is to promote the Cuban regime’s propaganda, undermine U.S. interests and justify brutal oppression against pro-democracy activists in Cuba,” wrote Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) and Albio Sires (D-NJ). “In addition, she has been at the forefront defending the Cuban regime’s unjust holding of a U.S. citizen and harboring U.S. fugitives. With that in mind, we would like you to answer the following questions: What was the purpose and intent of Vidal’s trip to Washington? What issues were discussed during your meeting with Vidal? Can you provide us an update on the Alan Gross case?”

The State Department has yet to respond to the letter.

A few days after Vidal returned to Havana, the Castro government agreed to allow a U.S. doctor to travel to Cuba to examine Gross, who is said by family members to be in poor health. Cuba disputes this and says its prisoner been treated very well at the military hospital that has served as his jail.

Under contract with a Bethesda, Md., company called Development Alternatives Inc., Gross traveled undercover to Cuba  five times before his arrest, distributing high-tech communication equipment to the island’s small Jewish community and to dissidents.

In November, Gross and his wife Judy sued DAI and the federal government for $60 million, saying he had been sent to Cuba without proper training, protection or information about tough Cuban laws against USAID-funded activities.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit against the United States. Gross had hoped the lawsuit would prompt the Obama administration to escalate its efforts for his release.

Gross did agree to settle with DAI, though the amount of the settlement wasn’t disclosed.

Jim Boomgard, DAI’s chief executive officer, said in a statement that neither party admits fault in the settlement. He also said the settlement allows DAI to work with the Gross family to bring him home.

Boomgard described Gross as “a committed development professional with many years of experience providing humanitarian and development assistance worldwide.”