Mexico City (Fides Service) - "We are sad to see that the social-economic conditions of the country do little to encourage love of country and attachment to our homeland". The Bishops of Mexico said this in a message dated November 15, Mensaje Al Pueblo De Mexico
Y A Los Hermanos Migrantes Y Residentes En El Extranjero, addressed to the People of Mexico, our migrant brothers and sisters and residents abroad. The question of migration was the subject of a recent meeting of the Conference of Mexican Bishops, also attended by representatives of the US Bishops' Conference and the Bishops Conference of Guatemala, two countries with which mexico shares borders. In their message the Mexican bishops say that when conditions in the country do not guarantee work which is a right and is indispensable for allowing individuals to support themselves and their families, a person has a right to emigrate "a right which must be respected by the country of origin and the country of destination". "Migration laws and policies which are rigid and inflexible, render legal migration impossible, and favour unscrupulous mafia involved in trafficking of persons, exploiting the needs of these people." Migration has serious consequences for families. "Migration fosters disintegration of family life…is separates families and prevents healthy and harmonious development of society". On 25 November Bishop Fray Raul Vera Lopez denounces violence against immigrants from Honduras when one man was killed. See message in Spanish (Fides Service 29/11/2002)