A second caravan of migrants left Honduras on Sunday with plans to travel through Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tamaulipas to reach the border city of McAllen, Texas.

The Honduran ambassador to Mexico revealed the information in an interview today with broadcaster Grupo Fórmula, in which he also countered claims by United States President Trump that “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners” were among members of the first caravan, now traveling northward through Chiapas.

Alden Rivera Montes said the migrants “are not maras [members of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13 gang], they are not criminals. They are citizens who struggle for a better life and having reached a certain level of frustration over not having social mobility decided to begin the migration.”

Most decided to leave everything behind and migrate from the northern triangle region of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, either to look for better job opportunities, flee violence or reunite with relatives, the ambassador said.

He also suggested that a Honduran political party was behind the organization of the caravan, alleging that “with deceptions and lies [the migrants] were told they would get transit visas in Mexico, and that the United States was waiting for them. Our people were misled . . . .”

The second caravan, now traveling through Guatemala, numbers almost 1,000, according to a source in the Guatemala police.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Milenio (sp)