On Deity, is it possible to get past turn 50 without Montezuma attacking you?

It appears as though despite not even being close to him, he decides to attack me around turn 35 or so every game. The earliest that I've ever been attacked is turn 19.

My military is always awful. I make sure that I never settle anywhere near him. But he still is happy to travel 20+ tiles and pass another civilization to find me.

Is deleting him a possibility?

(If someone can suggest which leaders are peaceful, that would be helpful also. Maybe I could just create a game with all peaceful leaders).

Have you tried not having an awful military? He probably passed that other civilization because unlike you, it had defenses that could stand up to him. The computer gets huge starting advantages on Deity, and it is smart enough to take advantage of that by attacking early. All the other civs have the same starting advantage except for you, so it makes perfect sense for them to target you unless you build up defenses quickly. You can't just focus on future growth and expect the computer to leave you alone long enough to catch up (although it is also highly unlikely that you will catch up without attacking one of the other civs). Will this put you further behind in terms of economy? Yes, which is what makes Deity so difficult.

So yes, it is possible, you just need to adjust your style.

You have to setup defensive positions. This may mean a couple of archers and a ground unit. Throw them on hills, near water to block (like the movie 300). Keep the options of retreating towards a city so you can bombard using the city.

Montie's Jaguar warriors run through Jungle without penalty. So you can't rely on Jungle to slow him down and most likely he will reach units (archers) you feel are otherwise safe. Think opposite.

If you are able to get some cash from ruins, you may be able to buy an archer which will give you an edge. However, you may not be able to build that first scout as you should build a warrior. You will then have up to 20 turns with those warriors to find any local ruins.

Once you take down a couple of his units, he will retreat. Preserve you new experienced units and upgrade them as crack troops.

As for deleting him. I think the best you can do is an advanced game setup which you can pick the civilizations to play against. Not very random or fun and i don't think you really want to do that. So learn to beat him when you think he is on the map.