Ciudad Quesada (Fides Service) - National heads of pastoral care for "people on the move" from six countries attended a meeting 14 and 15 February in Ciudad Quesada diocese in Costa Rica. The meeting was organised by CELAM the Council of Latin American Bishops' Conferences. The purpose was to discuss the phenomenon of migration, identify problems and discern solutions. In a final document the participants expressed concern for massive ways of migration towards the United States, Mexico and Central American countries, and the consequences of Freed Trade agreements such as TLC between Central America and the United States, and ALCA and the PPP the Panama Puebla Plan. In every country in this region, despite global wealth, there is moral deterioration, loss of values, particular the values of the family. Corruption, impunity, violence and insecurity are on the increase. "We do not oppose this system - the Bishops say - but we ask for an economic system which distributes equally and justly the riches produced. In keeping with a recent pastoral letter issued jointly by the Bishops of Mexico and the United States "Strangers no longer: Together on the Journey of Hope", the participants called for a migration policy with a human face which will help illegal migrants to legalize their presence and guarantee their rights." See statement in Spanish at www.fides.org. (Fides Service 18/2/2003 EM lines 18 Words: 239)