Bolivarianism is a mix ofpanhispanic, left-leaning andnationalist-patriotic ideals named afterSimón Bolívar, the 19th-century Venezuelan general and liberator from theSpanish monarchythen in abeyance, who led the struggle for independence throughout much of South America.
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In recent years, Bolivarianism's most significantpolitical manifestation was in the government of Venezuela's presidentHugo Chávez, who from the beginning of his presidency called himself a Bolivarian patriot and applied his interpretation of several of Bolívar's ideals to everyday affairs, as part of theBolivarian Revolution. That included the1999 Constitution, which changed Venezuela's name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and other ideas such as the Bolivarian Schools,Bolivarian Circles and theBolivarian University of Venezuela. The term "Bolivarianism" is often used specifically to refer to Chávez's presidential terms.
The central points of Bolivarianism as extolled by Chávez are the following:[citation needed]
Chávez's version of Bolivarianism, although drawing heavily from Bolívar's ideals, was also drawn from the writings ofMarxist historianFederico Brito Figueroa. Chávez was also influenced by the Hispanic American tradition ofcooperativism early in his life, such as that practiced byJorge Eliécer Gaitán,Fidel Castro,Che Guevara andSalvador Allende. Other key influences on Chávez's political philosophy includeEzequiel Zamora andSimón Rodríguez. Although Chávez himself referred to his ideology asbolivarianismo ("Bolivarianism"), Chávez's supporters and opponents in Venezuela refer to themselves as being either for or againstchavismo ("Chavism").[citation needed] Chávez supporters refer to themselves aschavistas.[citation needed]
Bolivarianism in Venezuela is also referred to asChavismo or "Chavezism".[1] Adherents are referred to asChavistas.
Severalpolitical parties in Venezuela supportChavismo. The main party, directly affiliated with Chávez, is theUnited Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which replaced theFifth Republic Movement (Spanish:Movimiento Quinta Republica, usually referred to by the three letters MVR). Other parties and movements supportingChavismo include theCommunist Party of Venezuela andVenezuelan Popular Unity.
TheMovement for Socialism (Spanish:Movimiento al Socialismo or MAS) andRadical Cause (Spanish:Causa R) initially supportedChavismo, but they have since distanced themselves from it and now oppose it.[citation needed]
A 2002 article inThe Boston Globe saidChavismo "fueled the eruption of public fury that swept the charismatic and confrontational president back into power after a group of military officers deposed him for two days in April in favor of a businessman-president", adding that the "Chavismo phenomenon has almost religious qualities".[2]
Historically, there has been no universally accepted definition as to the proper use of the terms "Bolivarianism" and "Bolivarian" within all the countries in the region. Many leaders, movements and parties have indistinctly used them to describe themselves throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries.
People who have called themselvesbolivarianos claim to follow the general ideology expressed in Bolívar's texts such as theCarta de Jamaica and theDiscurso de Angostura. Some of Bolívar's ideas include forming a union of Hispanic American countries, providingpublic education and enforcingsovereignty to fight against foreign invasion, which has been interpreted to include economic domination by foreign powers. An example of such a union wasGran Colombia, a block of countries consisting ofVenezuela,Colombia,Panama (part of Colombia; of which in that time it was known asNew Granada) andEcuador.
The Colombian insurgent groupFARC has in recent years also considered itself to be inspired by Bolívar's ideals and by his role in the 19th century independence struggle against Spain. It has also publicly declared its sympathy towards Chávez and his Bolivarian Revolution; Chávez has neither confirmed or denied any involvement with the insurgent group.
A Venezuelanguerrilla organization, theBolivarian Forces of Liberation, also espouses Bolivarianism, although it is not known if they have any ties to the Venezuelan government.
Bolivarianism has been adopted in Bolivia and Ecuador. Opposition to the spread of Bolivarian ideal resulted in coups in bothBolivia andHonduras.[3] Afterwards bolivarian aligned governments were democratically elected inBolivia andHonduras, while defeated inEcuador.[3] BolivianMAS suffered a massive defeat in2025, after the partyfractured into different factions ending their two decade long rule.[4]
In 2022,Gustavo Petro won the presidentialelections in Colombia, and is considered to be one of the proponents of bolivarianism in South America, as this was the political ideology of theM-19 movement of which he formed part during the 80s, and which became notable for stealing and later returningBolivar's alleged sword.[5]
Aspects of Bolivarianism were adapted by the Spanish political partyPodemos.[3]
