Fidel Castro lauded his brother, Cuban President Raul Castro, for showing courtesy and dignity by shaking hands with President Barack Obama at Nelson Mandela's memorial, Reuters reported.
In a column published in the Cuban media that praised Mandela and reviewed Cuba's role in ending apartheid, the elder Castro included statements about the handshake that made headlines around the world.
"I congratulate Comrade Raul for his brilliant performance (at the memorial), and especially for his firmness and dignity when with a friendly but firm greeting to the head of government of the United States he said in English, 'Mr. President, I am Castro'," he said in his first comment since Mandela's death.
The handshake was said to have been unplanned and went no further than pleasantries, the White House said.
Still, the meeting had resonance because U.S. relations with Cuba have undergone a surprise warming in recent months with several instances of cooperation instead of the usual hostile rhetoric, according to Reuters.
The U.S. may consider revising its policies toward Cuba, against which it has had a trade embargo for more than half a century, said Obama in November. Commenced in 1961, he questioned whether the policy remains an effective way of dealing with U.S. differences with the communist-ruled island nation.
Fidel, 87, handed over power to his younger brother in 2008 after going through an operation for intestinal bleeding in 2006. He made no public comments on Mandela's death and wasn't able to attend last week's memorial in South Africa.
A leading voice against apartheid, Fidel was one of the leaders to speak out when most other world leaders were reluctant to, Reuters reported. Mandela was deeply appreciative of Cuban support in the fight against apartheid - a conflict that included Cuban troops who fought and died in southern Angola, Reuters reported. The coverage of Mandela's death had taken away the limelight from the roots and crimes of apartheid, said Fidel in his Thursday column.
"It's a very real fact that Mandela was a complete man, profound revolutionary and radically socialist, who with great stoicism withstood 27 years of solitary confinement," Fidel said. "I have never ceased to admire his honesty, modesty and enormous merit."
