Aruba hasn't been a colony in the original sense of the word since 1954[1]. Many Arubans may find this term to be offensive given the struggles the country went through trying to gain its current autonomy and right to self-determination which was finally achieved in 1986[2], [3]

I understand that African-descended peoples of Aruba have close cultural links with the African diaspora of Latin America

Aruba's black population is between 10-15%. The island was not suited to large plantations during the slavery era and as such many of those "African" links you see on other islands are not easily observed. This compared to neighboring Curaçao which was a "hub" for African slaves. In addition, the black population we do have came here indirectly as laborers via other majority black West Indian islands. This happened during Aruba's industrialization age in the 1930's - 1950's.

Aruba's black population does not have close cultural links with the "African diaspora" of Latin America. They have cultural and familial connections with their families island of origin.

What we do have are some influences that can be seen in our language Papiamento/u, for example[4]. However, these influences are limited and unfortunately not so well understood by the general population. These influences do not serve as a bridge to Africa.

Aruban people are generally speaking not culturally or ethnically Dutch. In the same way Scots are not English. We are Aruban. Arubans in their majority are of mixed race(any combination of two or more of Western European, indigenous, black, Iberian, others). Similar to many Latin American countries, the majority has mixed Western European and indigenous genes. This is primarily due to the very close distance to Venezuela and our historical connection with the northern coastline of the South American country.

Did these enslaved communities arrive on the island as practicing Catholics?

As mentioned above, Aruba did not have a significant amount of enslaved communities[5].

The reason Aruba is majority Catholic has to do with the Spanish influence of Catholicism coupled with the catholic public school system[6]

Aruba was also under the Spanish crown for over 100 years, but the influence remained even after the Dutch took the island over after the 80 years war. This influence happened partly through neighboring Venezuela.

Were any attempts made by Dutch authorities to convert Arubans to Protestant denominations?

No, the Dutch were not bothered by this initially. Unlike in other territories where the local language(s) were actively destroyed by the colonial power.They did not want the "lesser population" to learn their (Dutch) language. The Dutch language became subservient to Papiamento/u fairly quickly. It was only later on that some people from mainland the Netherlands were taken aback by the "low level" of Dutch that the children and wives of Dutch families were speaking. This was because the husbands usually held the connections with Dutch speakers for work. While the wives and children started to forget Dutch due to Papiamento's dominance on the island. By the time the Dutch realized this, it was already too late. This Hawaii.edu link, also listed above, has good insight.

As far as the protestant side of it goes, that goes beyond what I'm comfortable in writing. Maybe someone else can chime in on that part. But, the close distance to catholic Venezuela probably played a big part in that. This is also shortly explained in the sources above.

I may have to clean this up a bit tomorrow and maybe add some additional references, given I wrote this with my phone. I hope it's enough to answer your questions.