MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Honduran toddler who was found alone in southern Mexico after becoming separated from his father on their journey to the United States will be sent back to his country on Friday, according to officials involved in the case.

       The boy, Wilder, gained international media attention when he was found alone on a roadside earlier late last month in Mexico's Veracruz state, half naked and crying, near a truck that carried migrants in suffocating conditions.

       "The little one will arrive in San Pedro Sula on Friday morning accompanied by a Child Protection officer from Mexico," said Lutgarda Madrigal, attorney for the Protection of Girls, Boys and Adolescents in Veracruz, which was in charge of Wilder's case.

       Upon arrival to Honduras, Wilder would be reunited with his mother Lorena Garcia, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.

       Garcia, who is from the rural area of Copan, Honduras, told Reuters that Wilder left with her husband Noel Ladino in a bid to migrate to the United States with a human smuggler. It was unclear why the father and son became separated before Wilder was found by Mexican security authorities.

       After Mexican immigration authorities circulated photos, Garcia identified herself to Honduran officials as Wilder's mother using a document that matched the vaccine records the boy carried.

       Garcia said she had spoken to her husband by phone but his whereabouts were still unknown.

       (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, writing by Cassandra Garrison, editing by Richard Pullin)