This article analyses the reconceptualization of the notion of “internal enemy” in the 21st century, as well as the current reconfigurations of the use of criminal law of the enemy as a mechanism of repression, criminalization and punishment of social movements in Guatemala, thus raising questions and argumentative lines that could also be applied to other Latin American countries. The analysis relies on the role played by the monopoly of "legitimate" violence in the reason of the State, as well as (...) on the increasing relevance of multinational corporations and their “lex mercatoria” against the sovereignty of the State, not just as mere economic agents, but as forms of political authority. _Received_: 04 September 2019 _Accepted_: 24 February 2020 _Published online: _Articles in press 03 April 2020; No. 5 26 June 2020. (shrink)