Two senators from opposite ends of the political spectrum are asking the Trump administration to investigate a Chinese tech firm and determine whether it violated sanctions by doing business with Venezuela.
According to The Hill, Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. The letter was due to be delivered to the White House on Wednesday.
Chinese company ZTE, which has come under fire in the past for violating various U.S. sanctions, manufactures telecommunications equipment. Van Hollen and Rubio want to know if the company's decision to help Venezuela track its citizens via national identification cards was a violation of sanctions imposed on several officials in Venezuela earlier this year.
The Hill also reported the two senators want to know if the technology, known as the "fatherland card," is a violation of human rights because it tracks the social, political, and economic behavior of each user.
Multiple rounds of sanctions have been placed on Venezuela and people close to its President Nicolás Maduro, a list that includes his wife and the country's vice president.
Material from Reuters was used in this report.
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