CharoChiicas and the controversial tobacco handouts in Ceuta, Spain

Tobacco and food for migrants in Ceuta: the controversy dividing the city

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Every night, a group of women parks a vehicle in Ceuta's Plaza de Azcárate and hands out food, tobacco and other items to the migrants who sleep rough in the neighbourhood. Residents say the scene repeats itself routinely, and footage circulated over the last few hours has turned these women —known on social media as the "CharoChiicas"— into the centre of a political storm mixing charity, suspicion and smuggling.

Voluntary aid or illegal sales?
The first question that arises is the nature of the gesture. Tobacco in Spain has a price fixed by law, and street selling is prohibited without a licence. The figure circulating in the comments suggests that the pack of Lucky Strike was being offered for around 4.85 euros, a price that points to a small nocturnal black market. But an altruistic reading is also possible: women who consider it their duty to hand newcomers a product that, whether out of irony or pragmatism, is perceived as a necessity.

Ceuta, the border laboratory
The autonomous city lives migration pressure first-hand. Every wave of arrivals triggers a clash of sensibilities between residents, who often feel abandoned by the state, and activists demanding more humanity. Handing out tobacco, rather than food, can be read as a provocation: it is a heavily taxed good, and distributing it outside official tobacco shops borders on illegality. Some argue that actions of this kind only worsen social tension; others reply that it is precisely that tension which forces such gestures.

Traitors or angels of the small hours
The reactions have gone far beyond the incident itself. These women have been accused of acting against the interests of their neighbours, of belonging to non-governmental organisations without an identifying vest, or even of being funded from abroad to destabilise the city. The debate has taken on an ideological edge that transcends the protagonists: people talk about the fall of the West, about alleged collusion with irregular immigration and about the need to tighten border controls.

The case will remain open as long as the women keep showing up every night. And the uncomfortable question lingers: why tobacco, and not just food? The answer probably says more about whoever asks it than about whoever hands it out.