Two opposition leaders expelled from Haiti were welcomed Sunday by fellow exiles in Miami, where they asked for support in ridding their Caribbean homeland of the government of Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril. Dr. Louis Roy, co-author of Haiti's 1987 constitution, arrived on a noon flight after being thrown out of his country for the second time in 30 years. ``I was arrested yesterday afternoon and put in jail,'' the 74-year-old civil-rights leader said after arriving at Miami International Airport. ``This morning, I was put on a Miami flight. They didn't even tell my why I was arrested.'' Asked if he was physically abused, he said ``Yes, I was beaten ... in the police department.'' Avril, who took power in a September 1988 soldiers' revolt that ousted military leader Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, has promised to hand over power after elections this year. Avril declared a state of emergency Saturday and arrested dozens of critics who expressed doubts about his commitment to democracy. Roy, founder of the Haitian Red Cross, was first banished in 1957, when Francois ``Papa Doc'' Duvalier was in power. Also addressing reporters Sunday was conservative leader Hubert de Ronceray, 65, who was expelled Saturday. He said that the killing that led Avril to declare a state of siege was an assassination meant for him. De Ronceray said Avril's armed forces were aiming for what they thought was his car when they killed an army colonel driving a similar auto near de Ronceray's home. He said his political colleagues had warned him that Avril wanted him ``destroyed,'' so he changed his Friday schedule. ``They made a mistake and killed the colonel,'' he said. ``Thirty minutes after he was killed, the guards arrived for me.'' The former vice minister of education under Jean-Claude ``Baby Doc'' Duvalier said he was then arrested, beaten and thrown in jail. Once there, he said, guards slapped him, beat him with sticks and gun butts and even put a cigarette in his eye, which was noticeably red. ``It is clear the United States must help Haiti to stop Mr. Avril,'' he said in a news conference and rally at the Haitian-American Republican Council of Dade County. De Ronceray said his party would refuse to participate in the upcoming elections in Haiti because of Avril's military regime, which he said only ``promised elections to get help from foreign countries.'' ``There's no possiblity of democracy with Mr. Avril,'' he said. ``He is a dictator.'' Members of Miami's Haitian community joined de Ronceray in asking the United States to help them oust Avril. About 40 Haitians attended de Ronceray's news conference, and several hundred later rallied in the neighborhood called Little Haiti in opposition to Avril and support of the expelled opposition leaders. ``The United States is fighting for democracy in the world,'' de Ronceray said. ``Mr. Avril is demonstating he is able to block the democratic process.''
