New York Times By ANTHONY DEPALMA
SHROUDED in mystery and myth, the heroes of Mexico’s Aztec past are honored in glorious monuments all over the country.

But the living descendants of Moctezuma are not allowed to eat in some of Mexico City’s best restaurants.

Although all Mexicans are considered equal under the country’s Constitution, Mexican society remains deeply divided on racial lines. And as the richest and poorest of the 91 million Mexicans are driven farther apart by such sweeping changes as the North American Free Trade Agreement, many Mexicans are starting to discover the dangers of their own deeply ingrained — yet rarely acknowledged — brand of bigotry.

The racial inequities are not just limited to the Maya Indians in the state of Chiapas who took up arms on the very day Nafta took effect more than a year ago, in what is slowly taking on shades of a national civil rights movement for Indians. Indigenous people all over Mexico, and those with Indian features — and dark skins — all feel a degree of the same kind of intolerance.

Bigotry? What Bigotry?

While Mexicans typically deny that discrimination exists, the not-so-subtle racial undertones of their society are apparent to foreigners who live and work here since Nafta was passed. When Henry B. McDonald, director of the Cushman & Wakefield Real Estate office in Mexico City took his family out for dinner last November, he didn’t think twice about inviting his 45-year-old housekeeper, Gabriela Miranda, an Indian. It was a Friday night and they went to a popular Italian restaurant called Prego in the Polanco section of Mexico City.

“We got there early by Mexican standards, around 7:45, and the place was empty,” Mr. McDonald said. “But we stood there waiting and waiting until finally the maitre’d came along and told me, in English, that domestics are not served here.” Mrs. Miranda was not wearing a uniform, Mr. McDonald said. The restaurant simply assumed that because she was an Indian she was a maid.

The restaurant manager, Mario Padilla, acknowledged that it is policy at Prego and other top restaurants to prohibit servants and drivers, many of whom are Indians. “The type of people who usually come to restaurants of this class all have servants, but they usually leave them at home,” Mr. Padilla said. He said the restriction was needed to protect patrons against people who “lack discretion” and try to bring their servants. He denied the policy was discriminatory. “We’re not racists,” he said. “We’re just trying to protect the image of the restaurant.”