Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro finally weighed in on the death of his ally Nelson Mandela, in a “Reflection” that addresses the famous handshake between the Cuban and American heads of state at Mandela’s memorial service.

Retired from public life since he fell ill in 2006, pauses in Castro’s periodic columns published in the island’s state media often raise eyebrows among those wondering about the state of his health.

Castro broke his silence Wednesday night with a column that praised Mandela and excoriated the European colonial powers for creating Apartheid and the United States for supporting it during the Cold War....