Red Cross Founder in Haiti Forced Into Exile : Caribbean: Opponents say the government crackdown is aimed at making Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril a dictator.

A prominent civic leader, considered the father of Haiti’s constitution, was forced into exile Sunday by the military regime, a day after it imposed a state of siege and arrested dozens of critics.

Louis Roy, 74, founder of the Haitian Red Cross, flew to Miami aboard a commercial flight. Roy told reporters in Miami that he was not told why he was arrested. He said he was beaten after being arrested.

On Saturday, another government critic, conservative leader Hubert de Ronceray, was forced into exile after police and soldiers rounded up dozens of opponents.

Critics said the arrests, beatings, banishments and state of siege indicated that Haiti’s ruler, Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril, plans to turn his regime into a dictatorship and renege on promises to hold free elections this year.

At a news conference Sunday in Miami, De Ronceray said Avril promised the elections only “to get help from foreign countries. There’s no possibility of a democracy with Mr. Avril. He’s a dictator.”

De Ronceray said that after his arrest Saturday, he was kicked, clubbed with guns and had a cigarette jammed in his eye. The eye was red as he spoke to reporters.

Roy, a co-author of Haiti’s 1987 constitution, also was banished in 1957 by dictator Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier. He, as well as De Ronceray, spent several years in exile in Canada.

The arrests followed the slaying Friday night of an army colonel by unidentified assailants. More arrests were reported Sunday.

Max Bourjolly, second in command of the Haitian Communist Party, was arrested at his home, according to party leader Rene Theodore. He said police phoned Bourjolly’s servants and told them to prepare his passport and belongings.

All appeared normal and quiet in Port-au-Prince, the capital, on Sunday.

Besides Bourjolly, at least two political leaders--Dr. Sylvain Jolibois of the small, radical Jean-Jacques Dessalines Group and Abby Brun of the center-left Congress of Democratic Movements party--and about 30 militants of that party remained in custody Sunday, said Moyse Senatus, the party’s co-leader.

Sylvio Claude, the radical leader of the Haitian Christian Democratic Party, said Sunday that police “had come to get me” Saturday but that he escaped and is in hiding.

The government announced the state of siege Saturday night and said that under it, a law forbidding the forced exile of Haitian nationals was being suspended.