Indian fig opuntia, Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., is a cultivated cactus adapted to semiarid conditions that has established complex interactions with insects. Several insect pests feed on and cause economic damage to the crop. The cactus weevil, Cactophagus spinolae Gyllenhal, is a phytophagous beetle that during larval and adult stages feeds on Opuntia plants, despite defensive compounds -- reported as antinutritional factors -- in the plants. Most likely the insect has developed metabolic mechanisms that enable it to use Opuntia cladodes as food, despite antinutritional factors in the plant. The aim of this work was to determine enzymes as auxiliary elements in the digestive process of the insect. The digestive enzymatic profile was described by zymographic techniques, hydrolysis of synthetic substrates, and chemical-specific inhibitors. Amylase activity was detected, represented by only one band of 80 kDa at pH 7. Serine proteinases dependent of calcium as cofactor were active at pH 8 and 9. Cysteine proteinases were active at pH 5 and 6 and found to be part of the proteolytic battery. Assays with specific substrates allowed detection of trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastase-like proteinase activities, with 694, 1016, and 891 proteolytic activity units per milligram of protein, respectively. An attenuation effect in the activities of proteinases was detected when interacting with a protein crude extract obtained from the cladode of Indian fig opuntia, showing inhibition of the insect serine proteinases and increased cysteine proteinase activities. Interaction between plants and specialist insects is complex, and knowledge of the relationship between Opuntia plants and the insects that attack them, could be an interesting model to understand how strong the interaction is with specialist phytophagous and potentially useful to develop pest management strategies.