The National Defense Secretariat (Sedena) has approved contracts for 535.8 million pesos (US $28 million) to buy materials for uniforms for the National Guard.

The cost of uniforms for the first 30,000 guardsmen will be almost 18,000 pesos each.

One of the contracts is a 357-million-peso deal with the company México Montecitos to provide metal plates for over 30,000 bulletproof vests.

Sedena also approved 11 contracts with six different companies that will provide almost 455,000 meters of cloth to make uniforms, at a cost of 38.4 million pesos.

Other businesses were awarded 47 million pesos’ worth of contracts to supply shoelaces, belts, buttons, zippers and thread.

The contracts only cover the purchase of materials; a division of the defense department will make the uniforms.

Guardsmen who who already been deployed can be identified only by an armband with the security force’s initials GN, for Guardia Nacional.

Around 70,000 members of the Guard will be deployed around the country on Sunday.

Source: Reforma (sp)