El Patron is an anti-father figure in the novel, because he fills the role of patriarch while failing his ethical responsibilities. This is especially true in relationship to Matt who is literally formed from his own flesh and blood as a clone. Matt is like a son to El Patron, except that his preferential treatment is not the love of a father but the hatred of an organ-harvesting madman who only treats him well to keep him pacified and under control until such a day when the Patron needs one of his organs.
Instead of a father who gives life for his son, El Patron is a father who creates children for his own benefit. Instead of laying his life down for his son, he executes the lives of others to live with their organs as a cannibalistic parasite. He is a demonic figure who exacts his vengeance on others without remorse, but his cold-blooded approach leaves few to oppose him, so he sits in a seat of authority. He is a symbol for the brokenness of a system that would prefer a hateful patriarch like this.
Notice that it is in community that Matt starts to realize the danger of El Patron. He can't quite see the truth on his own. The novel portrays the truth as inextricably related to social justice. When he only sees life through the lens of his preferential treatment in the patriarchy (or his privilege, one might say), he doesn't see that he is in mortal danger. The truth of other points of views helps him to see that the system is costing him everything. He has been complicit in his own destruction.
On a side note, the town's name is Opium, a signal to the reader that the issue of patriarchy is related to the pressing issues of modern opioid addiction through prescription drugs and heroin. This theme is also the final note of the novel, because El Patron poisons the wine of his own funeral, so that his final act is to kill the community by a drug, namely alcohol laced with something else. The relationship between power and drugs is shown to be more complicated than meets the eye.
