Cuba’s president confronts a nation in crisis. Among his challenges: ‘He’s no Fidel.’

“They’re using the same playbook, but they have to apply it massively,” said Juan Pappier, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The name of the game for the Cuban government has always been, ‘We will repress with the least visibility possible.’ But when you have hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, that’s challenging.”