People who call themselves bolivarianos follow the ideology expressed in Bolivar's texts such as the Carta de Jamaica and the Discurso de Angostura. Bolivar's ideas include forming a union of Latin American countries, providing public education, and enforcing sovereignty to fight against foreign invasion, which is interpreted to include economic domination by foreign powers. An example of such a union was Gran Colombia, a block of countries consisting of Venezuela, Colombia, Panamá, and Ecuador.
Its most significant political manifestation is in the government of Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez, who since the beginning of his presidency has called himself a bolivarian and applied Bolivar ideals to everyday affairs. That included the 1999 Constitution, which changed Venezuela's name to República Bolivariana de Venezuela, and other ideas such as the Bolivarian Schools and the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela. Often, the term Bolivarianism is used specifically to refer to Chávez's rule.