This work examines in comparative thought the Cuban José Martí and the Uruguayan Jose Enrique Rodó, from some of their writings. Both authors have significantly influenced the Hispanic-American intellectuals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In theirs speeches, they were not restricted to their own countries, but covered all the America. The form they used for expressing themselves, covering the Americas and excluding the United States, is related to the political, social and economic development of their countries in that period. It is our interest to identify the reasons that motivated Martí and Rodó to structure their speeches to cover the American continent and understand how both authors defined an identity to Latin America. Also try to understand how Marti and Rodó built the polarity between Latin America and the United States and how they observed the North-American presence in the continent.