Verónica Castillo describes the ASARCO factory as a key symbol in The Tree of Death, representing the beginning of environmental destruction in the border region of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. She explains how ASARCO, the first factory to arrive, polluted the land, poisoned children, and paved the way for other maquiladoras that continued to harm both the environment and people’s lives. For her, ASARCO symbolizes “the mother of the beginning of evil,” marking the start of the area’s mutilation through industrialization and toxic waste.