Mexican politician accused of using photo to fake attendance in Zoom meeting | Watch

Mexico City congresswoman Valentina Batres Guadarrama was recently accused of using a photo of herself to fake attendance at a Zoom meeting. The Mexican politician was caught on camera sneaking out of the meeting after using a photo of herself to pretend like she was still there. Guadarrama of Morena party had been attending the virtual session of Congress on September 18 when she appeared to exit the call and using a photograph of herself as a virtual background. 

A video of the incident has surfaced online and it clearly shows Guadarrama leaving her seat and using Zoom’s background function in a bid to pretend like she was still there. The clip recorded and shared by the deputy of the local Democratic Revolution Party shows Guadarrama’s arm intermittently jutting into the frame, even as her colleagues stared in shock and amusement at the picture that replaced her. 

READ: Lopez Obrador: Mexico 'making Progress' Against Covid

While taking to Twitter, Jorge Gavino shared the video of the incident and wrote, “ And I thought that you were paying a lot of attention to my speech, when I realised that that attentive look was a photograph”. 

READ: López Obrador Opponents Erect Tents In Mexico City

Guadarrama says it was an ‘accident’ 

Since shared, the clip has become a subject of widespread mockery. However, Guadarrama, in a Twitter statement, responded to the condemnation and said that she ‘accidentally’ set the photograph as her background and attempted to get rid of it.

The Mexican politician said, “My lack of knowledge in handling digital tools made me make a mistake. I put a wallpaper that showed my frozen image. I stopped for a second to request technical help at home”. 

She added, “It is worth mentioning that each session requires our fingerprints to verify the presence of each of the deputies present. If you see the full video of the session, you can see that during the session I appear moving and making various gestures and movements”. 

READ: New Mexico Reports 67 New Coronavirus Cases, 2 More Deaths

READ: Mexico Arrests 21, Seizes Ship Said Used For Stolen Fuel