In this article, we seek to: i) draw a “map of positions” derived from readings of Christopher Columbus’s Journal by Latin American novelists between 1972 and 1992, particularly those disparately incorporating fragments of the Journal in a disparate way, such as Severo Sarduy’s Cobra (1972) and Alejo Carpetier’s El arpa y la sombra (1979), and Graciela Freilich’s Colombina descubierta (1991) and Augusto Roa Bastos’ Vigilia del Almirante (1992); ii) to consider in each one of them the presence of an “author / translator” of the source text, particularly focused on the political value of words and the figure of the “Discoverer;” iii) to visualize a “map of author / translators” whose re-readings clinging on the novels had an impact on models of universal / American, Indian / Western,  past / present, identity / alterity tensions.