In my article about Chacaltaya, I mentioned the cemetery I found at the foot of Huayna Potosí and made the offhand remark that the whole village of Milluni had died.

It turns out that this was right, but that the true story is even more brutal. In 1965, miners were on strike and they had established something like an opposition base against the Bolivian government, even operating a radio station that broadcast to nearby La Paz. The government (it was one of the many military dictatorships in that country’s history) sent in troops, tanks and bombers, perpetrating the “Massacre of Milluni” on 24 May 1965.

So, even though this cemetery is a beautiful place, keep the history in mind when looking at more of the photos I took there.

Addendum:

This eerie cemetery is one of the locations in Blackthorn, a Western movie filmed in Bolivia.

(Zur deutschen Fassung.)