Basilio Paraíso was an Aragon

Aragon

Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

ese businessman and politician.

The son of a teacher, he studied in Huesca and Zaragoza

Zaragoza

Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...

, where he obtained a degree in medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 and began his career as a businessman.

He was the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1893-1919), founder of the editorial society of the Heraldo de Aragón (1898), member of the Congreso de los Diputados (1901) and senator-for-life. He also helped organize the Hispano-French Exposition of 1908

Hispano-French Exposition of 1908

The Hispano-French Exposition was an exposition held in Zaragoza from May to December 1908 to commemorate the hundred-year anniversary of the first siege of Zaragoza....

.

In 1916 (in the middle of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

), the Conde de Romanones named him president of the executive committee of the Central Board of Subsistencies, which regulated the production, the level and the price, of commerce, but he resigned in 1917 because of differences with the government that later elevated García Prieto to the same post.