6 Political Activists in Haiti Forced Into Exile : Caribbean: Opponents say the government crackdown is aimed at making Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril a dictator.

The military government exiled six leading political activists Sunday, a day after it declared a state of siege, arrested critics and banished a prominent opponent, sources and family members said.

Critics said the actions indicate that Haiti’s ruler, Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril, plans to renege on promises to hold free elections this year.

All of those exiled were beaten when they were arrested, according to activists and other sources.

Louis Roy, 74, a prominent civic leader, founder of the Haitian Red Cross and an author of the country’s 1987 constitution, flew aboard a commercial flight to Miami. Upon his arrival, he told reporters, “I was hit in both ears and full in the face in front of the duty officer at the police headquarters.”

Max Bourjolly, second in command of the Haitian Communist Party, was arrested at his home and exiled, apparently to France, party leader Rene Theodore said.

Family members and sources said the others exiled were Aby Brun of the Congress for Democratic Movement, Sylvain Jolibois of the small, radical Jean-Jacques Dessalines Group and radical activists Michel Legros and Max Montreuil. They said Brun was flown to Miami and the others to Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.

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

The actions followed the slaying Friday night of an army colonel by unidentified assailants.

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.

Moyse Senatus, a leader of the center-left Congress for Democratic Movement, said 28 of 30 peasant militants who belong to the group were released after being arrested a day earlier.

Popular radical leader Sylvio Claude and Gerard Philippe-Auguste, head of the Movement to Organize the Country party, remained in hiding.

In announcing the state of siege Saturday night, the military government suspended a law forbidding the forced exile of Haitian nationals.

It also renewed an entry visa requirement for Haitians returning from abroad “to prevent the infiltration of terrorist agents.”