Liesbeth Venetiaan

Liesbeth Venetiaan-Vanenburg (; born 3 November 1942) is a Surinamese social worker who served as the First Lady of Suriname from 1991 to 1996 and from 2000 to 2010 as the wife of President Ronald Venetiaan.

Biography Vanenburg was born on November 3, 1942, in Suriname. In 1961, she went to The Hague, Netherlands, to study at the Catholic Social Academy. In 1964, she met Ronald Venetiaan at a student party in Leiden. In 1965, she returned to Suriname for good, and in 1966, she married Venetiaan. They had four children; three daughters and one son.

Venetiaan-Vanenburg worked as a social worker. In 1980, Dési Bouterse staged a coup d'état, and the Venetiaan family had to go into hiding. Later, they were placed under house arrest and reinforced by armed soldiers. In 1993, she was chosen Woman of the Year by the Surinamese research agency Foundation for Scientific Information. Her husband was president until 1996.

In 2010, Bouterse returned to power again. On August 12, 2010 it was decided that Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, his wife, was entitled to a salary of 8,742 SRD as first lady. It was shown that Venetiaan-Vanenburg had always performed her activities as first lady for free, and was entitled to approximately one million Surinamese dollars. Venetiaan-Vanenburg then turned down the money. In 2020, she was named the best first lady of Suriname by newspaper Dagblad Suriname.