Elites in southern Brazil saw the drought as a product of northeastern laziness.[35] These elites cited the lack of infrastructure such as deep wells and dams, though construction of these projects was underway prior to the drought.[2] Greenfield writes that Brazilian senators questioned the intelligence of the sertanejos by questioning why they hadn’t built artesian wells.[18] According to Greenfield, the senators’ delusion stemmed from extremely different socio-political realities between themselves and the struggling population of the sertão.[36]