Raul Castro's Handshake With Barack Obama: Fidel Castro Reveals Brother Raul Told U.S. President 'I Am Castro'

Fidel Castro has revealed that his brother Raul told President Barack Obama that "I am Castro" during their now infamous handshake during the funeral of former South African President Nelson Mandela. In his eulogy to Mandela, Castro wrote "I congratulate comrade Raul for his brilliant performance, and in particualr, for his strength and dignity when he greeted the leader of the United States' government with a warm but firm gesture, telling him in English "Mr. President, I am Castro." The comments were published in Cuba's official news paper Granma.

President Obama shook Raul Castro's hand on his way to the podium at Mandela's service which was attended by dignitaries from around the world. The gesture was the first public handshake between leaders from either country in fifty years. "The role of the Cuban delegation following the death of our friend and brother Nelson Mandela will be unforgettable," added Castro in his first public statemetn since the death of Mandela who visited Cuba twent years ago not long after his liberation from his 27-year jail sentence in South Africa.

Castro also wrote that the South African apartheid was a "fruit of colonial Europe" and also praised the involvement of the Cuban military in the fight against the South African regime in the 70s and 80s. "Cuba fulfilled its internationally duties rigorously. It defended key points and trained thousands of angolan soldiers every year , while the USSR took care of arming the troops." Castro proclaimed that Cuba's involvement in South Africa's struggle was a vital contribution in the end of apartheid.

"Mandela was a man of integrity, a profound revolutionary and a radical socialist, who, with great stoicism, withstood 27 years of solitary imprisonment. I never stopped admiring his honor, his modesty and his enormous merit," wrote Castro.