Melissa Silva dead, sister Arleth Silva injured in cockfighting massacre in Mexico

An American mother is dead and her teenage sister is in critical condition after 20 people were killed in a cockfight massacre.

Melissa Silva and her sister Arleth Silva, 16, were vacationing in Michoacan, Mexico, and were at the gathering when gunshots rang out, the ABC7 family said.

Melissa, mother of four, was fatally shot and Arleth was beaten multiple times.

In the bloody massacre in the Las Tranjas region, 17 men and three women were shot dead.

Arleth is currently in critical condition at a hospital in Mexico. She is one of four injured in the shooting.

She was shot once in the lungs and twice in the legs, a family member claimed on a GoFundMe page.

Prosecutors claimed the shooters planned the attack and entered the area in a stolen truck owned by a snack food company.

“The snack food company’s truck arrived and several armed individuals in camouflage clothing got out,” prosecutors said in a statement, according to the outlet.

“At the same time, a bus that was parked in front of the building was used as a blockade,” apparently to prevent victims from fleeing or calling for help, it said.

The incident happened just after 10:30 p.m. Sunday night when a suspected team of cartel members dressed in military uniforms burst into the crowded venue.

Investigators found 15 vehicles that allegedly belonged to the victims. One of them had stickers with the logo of a criminal gang.

Police officers also discovered more than 100 assault rifle shell casings strewn across the ground.

Prosecutors added that drug cartels and other gangs have been fighting in the area.

“There is evidence that the attack involved a confrontation between criminal groups,” the Federal Office for Public Security said in a statement.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed the killings on criminal gangs in the area and promised a full investigation would take place.

“It was a massacre of one group by another,” he said at a news conference.

On Monday, troops from the Mexican Army and the National Guard were deployed to arrest those responsible.

VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO INCREASE

It was revealed last month that gang violence in Mexico continues to rise at an alarming rate amid a bloody new antitrust war.

The violence has even spread to popular tourist spots like Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

In January, two Canadians were murdered by a hitman who wore a bracelet to get through security at the resort Hotel Xcaret south of Playa del Carmen.

And in November, four Americans were injured in a deadly shootout between rival merchants on a beach next to the five-star Hyatt Ziva Riviera hotel in Cancun.

That comes two weeks after two women – a Californian travel blogger and a German tourist – were killed in a crossfire between rival gangs at a resort bar in Tulum.

Tourism chiefs now fear the bloodshed means the Quintana Roo region will lose its reputation as a safe haven for package holidaymakers and spring breakers.

The governments of the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Germany have all issued travel warnings for the resorts.

Experts say it’s the visitors themselves who are fueling the gang war – as they fuel the rising demand for illegal drugs.

Robert Almonte, an expert on Mexican drug cartels, told The Sun that he believes the violence stemmed from fighting between the two main drug cartels operating in the region, the Gulf Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The notorious Sinaloa Cartel, once led by imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, is also active in the resorts.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and is reproduced here with permission.