Pemex Ex-Director Caught on Video Beating His Wife, Sheinbaum Promises Investigation

María Felicia Jiménez watched her five-year-old son run toward the stairs as his father shoved her onto a couch, ripped his own shirt off, and punched her in the face. The video, recorded inside the family home on March 15, 2026, shows Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, then the sitting director general of Petróleos Mexicanos, assaulting his wife while their child stood meters away.

Jiménez published the footage on YouTube on Friday and gave a detailed interview to Aristegui Noticias, describing years of physical and psychological abuse that she says began in 2022. She described being stabbed with a pen, thrown into furniture, and threatened with the implicit power of her husband's security detail, armed bodyguards provided by Pemex.

"He didn't like it when I told him uncomfortable truths," Jiménez told reporters. "Because when you hold those positions, you start to believe you're God."

Rodríguez Padilla was named to lead Pemex at the start of President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration in October 2024. He and Sheinbaum studied physics together at UNAM's Faculty of Sciences and later completed a master's degree in energy engineering at the same institution. In May 2026, Sheinbaum announced his departure from Pemex and his appointment to head the National Institute of Electricity and Clean Energy, INEEL, effective June 1.

Jiménez, a Cuban national and professor at UNAM, described how Rodríguez Padilla used her immigration status as a weapon. She said he told her that as a foreigner with no local connections, she would lose custody of their son in any divorce proceeding. She said he threatened that a single phone call could end her teaching career. She said he told her she was "a nobody."

The video shows Rodríguez Padilla pushing Jiménez, grabbing her hair, and striking her while their son stands in the living room. The child runs toward the stairs as the altercation escalates. Jiménez said the boy was terrified. She said their older teenager hid in a bedroom.

Sheinbaum responded to the allegations on Saturday, saying the case would be investigated. The president's office has not commented on whether Rodríguez Padilla will be removed from his position at INEEL. The institute, which oversees Mexico's transition to clean energy, is one of the most sensitive agencies in the federal government. Aristegui Noticias attempted to contact Rodríguez Padilla for comment and received no response.

Jiménez said she had not filed a formal police report, citing fear and her status as a migrant in Mexico. She said she was gathering the courage to go to a Ministerio Público for the first time. "It's scary, it's terrifying, because sometimes justice doesn't work the way you'd want it to," she said.

The broader context matters. Jiménez described a pattern of intimidation that went beyond physical violence. She said Rodríguez Padilla used his position, his security detail, and his political connections to create an environment where she felt she had no recourse. The armed bodyguards assigned to protect the Pemex director were, in her telling, an implicit threat directed at his own wife.

She also described an incident in early 2022 when she attempted to flee with their youngest child, then about a year old. She said Rodríguez Padilla threatened to accuse her of illegally removing the child from the home, leveraging his political contacts to ensure she would lose any legal battle. She stayed.

The case lands at a sensitive moment for the Sheinbaum government, which has faced criticism over its handling of violence against women despite frequent rhetorical commitments to feminist policy. Rodríguez Padilla is not just any official. He is a personal friend of the president, selected for two of the most sensitive positions in the energy sector based on a relationship that spans decades.

For Jiménez, the calculus was straightforward. She said Rodríguez Padilla spent years telling her that nothing would happen to him, that his position and connections made him untouchable. She decided to prove him wrong by going public, even if the legal system might not deliver the outcome she wants. "I just have to find the courage again," she said.

The video has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times since Friday. It shows a man who held one of the most powerful positions in the Mexican government, doing what the government he served claims to be fighting. The question now is whether the response will match the rhetoric.